Police Arrest Alleged Computer Hacker

POSTED: 7:31 pm EDT August 31, 2004

UPDATED: 7:47 pm EDT August 31, 2004

NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. -- An investigation conducted by the Pittsburgh High Tech Crimes Task Force, which includes the Pittsburgh FBI office and the state police, has led to the arrest of a New Kensington man.

According to police, a computer hacking complaint at a business prompted an investigation. The investigation revealed 2,000 stolen credit cards and logs showing hundreds of computer intrusions.

Michael Wally, 21, has been charged with 40 counts of unlawful use of computers, 134 counts of criminal use of a communication facility, 42 counts of identity theft and 100 counts of criminal attempt unlawful use of computers, according to the police report.

Police said the investigation will continue and additional arrests may be made.

POSTED: 10:53 am EDT September 1, 2004

UPDATED: 11:21 am EDT September 1, 2004

NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. -- A joint investigation between Pittsburgh and the state's Computer Crimes Task Force led to an arrest Tuesday in New Kensington.

State police in Indiana County said Michael Wally confessed to hacking into thousands of computers.

He then allegedly set up a bragging Web site for his computer friends to view.

After he was arrested, police confiscated 15 computers and 2,000 stolen credit cards.

Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert Erdely said, "He is basically showing off to his friends that he had this large war-dialing. To war dial is to dial at random that identify computer systems that have modems attached to them. And then he attempts to use them to gain access into those systems."

Wally is charged with 42 counts of identity theft.

He's also charged with 100 counts of unlawful use of a computer, which is punishable with up to seven years in prison for each count.

Kerryisms. Bushisms. Quaylisms

I recieved a list of quotes today that I recieved in 2000. Interestingly enough, they sounded familiar back then too.  I did a little research and found out that the following is an urban legend -- that is to say neither Kerry nor Bush said them (as is often stated).  It was in fact Dan Quayle who is responsible for most of these things.

 

 

ORIGINAL MSG TO ME QUOTED BELOW:

We all know that Bush has made some embarrassing statements (there's at least 5 books I can think of off the top of my head that have his de-witticisms in them), but Kerry hasn't even taken office yet, and his are piling up:

 

"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country."

- John F. Kerry

  

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."

- John F. Kerry

  

"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."

- John F. Kerry

  

"The future will be better tomorrow."

- John F.. Kerry

  

"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."

-  John F. Kerry

  

"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."

- John F. Kerry 

 

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."

- John F. Kerry 

 

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."

- John F. Kerry 

 

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."

- John F. Kerry 

 

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children."

-  John F. Kerry 

 

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities inour air and water that are doing it."

- John F. Kerry

 

"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system."

- John F. Kerry

 

/rizzn

Probably the high point of the entirety of the Olympics

Now playing: Rockapella - Sexual Healing

Now playing: Neil Diamond - Holly Holy

Toronto

by Kelly Royle
age 25 (and 2/3)

Toronto is the type of city that assualts all your sense. Usually all at once.

You walk out of the subway station and are affronted by this wave of smell. It's the smell of the city. I had to explain this to Griffin and Wyatt. It's the smell of thousands of cars and thousands of body's all within the same space. Combine that with the smell of the street vendors, and the guy walking beside you who has yet to shower that day and you have The Smell of Toronto.

Then there are the sounds.

The sounds of traffic, of people figthing, of the three newscasters we walked past, reporting for their live at noon show. We had walked by that spot where just last week, a lady was held hostage and the guy who held her was at some point shot dead by a sniper. His face was plastered across the front of every newspaper we saw. Ironically? Kinda. There was a newspaper box close to where he died. With his face on it. Maybe that's not irony but it seems to me like something straight out of a movie.

The people yelling are insane. People selling stuff, people begging for money, calling a cab, shouting at small children. Add to that the cacauphony of traffic - loud engines, honking horns, cursing drivers. It's an audio assault.

Then there is the feel of the city air. As if all those sky scrapers weren't oppressive enough, the air itself is thick and damp with the sweat of a thousand people and it presses in on you. Sometimes after a day in the city I come home with random smudges of pollution on my face.

The sites of Toronto are very diverse. For every well dressed office manager out on his lunch, briefcase in one hand, cup of Williams 5$ coffee in another, there is a shabbily dressed homeless person (I had to tell Wy several times to stop shouting, "LOOK THERE IS A BUM!" or "HOLY ANOTHER HOBO, KELLY LOOK!") in filthy clothes and shoes that are falling a part.

As for taste, if you open your mouth to wide and breathe in, it tastes disgusting. The hot dogs taste great, until you start thinking about why they are called 'street meat'. To me the city tastes of burger and fries as that is usually what I eat when I am there. And a milkshake.

This is what I think about Toronto.

[via the secret journal of kelly royle age 25 and 2/3]

Now playing: Moby - At Least We Tried

Live at the VMA's TONIGHT! -- Mark and Darrell Show for 8/29/2004

The Mark and Darrell Show will be broadcast live from the Red Carpet/Parking Lot of the MTV VMAs TONIGHT!  I, Mark/Rizzn, am going to be walking around like a dork with a Laptop, Microphone, Camera Phone, and Wireless Connection skyping it up with Darrell for the MAD show tonight.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN IN - or go to Rantradio.com (talk), or any of our other affiliates.

In fact, keep this page bookmarked -- I'm going to be moblogging to my snapnpost directory what I see tonight, and the photo's will show up right in here.

 

 So that's that.  Be good and tune in... it should be a blast.

Or I could be completely kicked out of the affair... we'll see.

/rizzn

Now playing: Rizzn Do'Urden - Mark and Darrell Show Theme

This is a bad rip of a poster I pulled from an RNC protest. You know, it's interesting... the only posters I ever seem to be able to find in the pictures from protest events are anti-American or anti-Republican. 


The Greeks, on the other hand, couldn't make a catchy protest sign if their life depended on it. "Out of Irak" .... wow... real great appeal to the international community... Try making signs that most of the world could read... the world's language of choice hasn't been Greek for a couple thousand years ago. Gottalavenetaengleka? 

This is pretty much the only kind of photo's I can post right now... This is JaRule's feet, I think. Once the statute of limitations or whatever it's called when the pictures aren't contractually prohibited from being posted, I can put the good one's up. 


This girl right here from the bar-b-que this afternoon... I have no idea who she is but she is making love to the camera, and she's HOTTER than SNOT.  This was taken with the camera phone, so it's not covered in the contract (amazing, lucky shot).


This was a random girl from the bar-b-que this afternoon, too... I think Ricky said he got her number. Not bad, man, not bad. 


Remember, the VMA's will be broadcast live on the Mark and Darrell show this weekend.... tune in!

Saturday Morning (for me at least) Update

Well, after hours of screwing around with a wireless wearable prototype, I've come away with a thorough hatred for Windows handling of Wireless Networking.

Thorough.

Like if I ever see Bill Gates, I'm going to punch him in the face for this. Probably twice.

I'm going to be doing some audio updates this evening and preparing for the M&D show... Hopefully this evening will give some good soundbytes, I'm going to Paris Hilton's Record Release Party at the Mansion tonight. It should be fun.... it will definately make for a good show tomorrow if everything works according the plan.

I'm audi 5000 for now... stay tuned to the site for periodic updates. Be good people.

-=-=-=-=-

Alrighty... as usual I'm waiting for Darrell to get to a base station so that we can start the remote... I've been here at the location for a couple hours looking like a dork walking around with a a laptop and a microphone...

And son of a gun, the battery's about dead on this stinkin' thing.... doesn't look we'll be doing any recording tonight. We'll see. I'm going to shut down for a bit and wait for the fun stuff to go down.

/rizzn

Tired Rizzn

I just got back from the famed "P. Diddy" party.

Wow.  I must say, some of these chicks were friggin HOOOTTT.

Not to mention Paris Hilton or Ashley Simpson.  They were hot too.

I was set up a few feet away from the red carpet with about three laptops and a cadre of different types of antennae to try to capture an internet signal... so I attracted a little bit of attention.

I finally got some in the form of this crowd of chicks that wanted riz-nuts over here.

They were from New York, and I told one of them named Shari that "we should network" and "she should visit my site."  Hopefully she does, and hopefully she writes me back.  She was mighty purdy.

As to the celebrities, it was pretty ok.  Busta Rhymes was hoofin' it (he didn't get the VIP treatment for some reason). Pretty much the rest of the people had their posse's surrounding them so it was kinda hard to get words in to them on a personal level.

I'm getting a couple Radio Shack additions tomorrow so that I can bring my MAD Microphone to the red carpet tomorrow and get some "MAD SHOW RULES" or some stuff from the celebrities.

Nothing like celebrity endorsement.

/rizzn

Now playing: MAD - 08-01-2004.mp3

Rizzn is at P. Diddy's Party

I'm at p diddy's party... i hacked up a hotspot in South Beach.... this is is just a short update to let you know I'm up and running... I'll do a longer update describing the surroundings a little later on... be good party people.

Mark and Darrell Show & the MTV Music Video Awards

The Mark and Darrell Show this weekend will be live with remotes from the afterparties of the MTV Music Video Awards.  Over the next three days I will be attending the parties of P. Diddy, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, and others, and I will be getting the good interviews ... hopefully ... if they let me in.

Well, I'm invited, I'm just in a bit of disbelief at the moment ... I do however intend to attend these places and discover if this is simply a cruel joke played on a simple internet radio dj like myself or if it in fact is a Real Thing.  We'll See!  Stay tuned for details.

/rizzn

Abortion, Gay Marriage and Common Sense Part IV

I'll just come right out and say it, this is the next installment in the round-robin writing exercise between DJ Colonoscopy and myself. :)

I have never contended at any point along the way that it was strictly religious influence that the anti-gay marriage people have to support your cause.  In today's day and age, there is no way to take a stand in politics on strictly moral superiority, and those that do will be called on that stance. 

This is, in fact, what I aimed to do (at least in part) with my original article.  The primary contention people of the pro-gay marriage stance have -- that it's simply "right" that all of us re-define our idea of marriage.  This is what we're talking about is re-defining society's image of what's "right."  A minority think it should be one way, the majority another. 

There aren't an overabundance of facts on either side of the debate, yet we persist in arguing them despite this; and in so doing we draw into the debate some of the biggest "hotbutton" issues of all time: Christian values, perversion in relation to the fall of old societies, and religious hypocrasy.  I'm given to wonder if the point is to really convince one side or another of what the merits of one's argument is, or if the point is simply to rile the conservatives up in such a tizzy that they all jump off a cliff like lemmings once the liberals have their way.

Since we're mentioning the foibles of the right, let's illustrate the same for the left.  At some point or another during the 80s, it was recognized that teen pregnancy and STDs were becoming an issue.  To remedy this, instead of teaching our children (hrm, that would have been me at the time) that you can avoid all these pitfalls by the tried and true method of abstinence, children were told that "we know you're going to have sex, and we know you're going to do drugs -- here's clean needles, here's some rubbers."

If you need to learn the problems with this approach to teaching, you may want to go back and read [this article] about how succeptible the mind is to suggestion.  If you want to learn how effective the teaching progam actually was, read [this recent report] linking drug abuse and teenage (and pre-teenage) sexual activity.

So to bring this all back around, just because marriage is already in trouble, do we throw the baby out with the bathwater?  Do we just say "Michael Jackson ruined marriage for us all -- if he can get married, what can it really mean anymore?" and let centuries old definitions be re-written?

It is so easy to point to the solution of the moment, but I think few people outside the conservative arena realize the gravity of what is being proposed (and most of those people just kinda go along with the crowd of the moment, and don't have a clear picture of what they are arguing for).

I don't want to see idiots on television debating from their gut on this one.  I don't want to see liberals comparing gay rights to the civil rights movements -- that's assinine.  I don't want to see conservatives telling us to kill gay people -- that's evil.  If I'm going to be subjected to Gay Marriage debate on a national level, I want to see an honest discussion of the facts.  I want to see the best of what both sides has to offer.  If I wanted trash-talking and sub-culture bashing, I could watch Jerry Springer, re-runs of the DNC or the upcoming RNC.

(I'm skipping the obvious joke about [the unmentionable station], but it's there.. you know it.. I know it..  I don't have to say it).

The first thing that needs to happen is that both sides need to stop calling each other liars.  Both sides need to treat the other side some way besides 'beneath contempt.'  We all have to share this country, and the Dwarves of Narnia like myself are sick and damn tired of you people fighting like Narnians and Calormen. (I hope you people like that reference, it works on a few levels).

To address DJ Colonoscopy's final point of "looking up America's very dark orifices to see what kind of sh!t we can really find..." I would have to agree.  There are certainly more important issues at stake than this, but let's agree on something before we let this subject pass from the hallowed pages of rizzn.com:

The gay marriage debate is never going to pass in America. This is a fact of life we must endure -- there are far more of them than there are of us who want to make this an issue in the face of America, and they all have their various reasons why.  We must keep our composure.  You will be asked for you're opinion.  Research the facts. Find out why you believe what you believe.

If you can face the issue of gay marriage in America with a straight face, don't lose your cool, and perhaps find a solution that is amicable to both diverse points of view, I believe we could take on any American issue facing us and defeat the problems.

Just a thought.  This may be our litmus test as a country.  Don't fail it.

/rizzn
on to looking up the annals of america or whatever.

Now playing: Thelonious Monk - In Walked Bud

Americans control Tikrit

America has a firm hold on Tikrit... or does it?  Watch this special rizzn.com video report for more details!

/rizzn

Electronic Jihad To Strike Thursday? Don't Bet On It

By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News
A coordinated attack against the Internet, dubbed an "electronic jihad," may be as close as tomorrow, one security firm warned Wednesday. Other experts, however, were dubious.

According to a report on the Russian news service RIA Novosti, Eugene Kaspersky of the Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs has warned about a large-scale attack that might be delivered by Islamic terrorists.

Kaspersky and other security analysts have noted claims on Arabic-language Web sites that announced an attack will launch August 26. The main targets -- no surprise -- of the attack would be against political and financial Web sites in the U.S., Israel, and Western European nations, Kaspersky alleged.

"The hackers who have proclaimed 'electronic jihad' have enough experience and resources to paralyze the Internet for several hours at least," Kaspersky was quoted as saying. "It is ghastly enough that these people have mentioned 'electronic jihad' for the first time."

Executives at Kaspersky Labs were unavailable for comment, but as of mid-day Wednesday, the security company's Web site rated virus activity as "green," indicating that everything's "normal."

But since even Kaspersky has no firm details, other security professionals said it's unlikely anything out of the ordinary would happen Thursday.

"We don't think anything really major will happen," said nearby F-Secure, an anti-virus firm based in Finland, in a statement on its Web site. "Why would anybody announce an attack like this beforehand?"

Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec agreed. "We don't see anything unusual developing," said a Symantec spokesperson Wednesday. Symantec operates a global network of threat detection sensors, dubbed DeepSight Threat Network; DeepSight hasn't spotted any evidence of an impending attack, the spokesperson added.

"We don't see anything substantiated," said Ken Dunham, the director of malicious code research for Reston, Va.-based iDefense. "We're certainly not expecting any major global event that will affect the Internet as a whole."

But while Dunham pooh-poohed the idea of a general strike against the Web on Thursday, he believes politically- and/or religiously-motivated attacks are a sure thing at some point.

"We've definitely seen an increase in hacker activism, and religious and politically-motivated attacks," he said. More important, said Dunham, is the move by various groups toward hacking. "We're beginning to see a shift toward a convergence of major motives," he added, such as activist groups taking on some of the characteristics of organized crime gangs when it comes to hacking. But rather than after a financial windfall, these attackers are after disruption pure and simple.

"With the tools and abilities now circulating in the hacker community, the situation's likely to be more disruptive and coordinated in 2004 and 2005. It's a dangerous situation, like oil and fire."

Attackers like the ones cited by Kaspersky, said Dunham, are likely "middle- to low-class hackers without the skills necessary to attack heavily guarded Web sites, such as financial services sites, but could hammer less well-defended servers."

But even then Dunham's hedging his bets. "The current situation is the most dangerous and difficult we've ever seen, what with the high number of zero-day attacks against Internet Explorer and the fact that some attacks have hit fully-patched computers at will."

"There's a lot out there to be concerned about," he concluded.

[view source]

Now playing: dimitri from paris - abstract jazz lounge

the GENO show: You're my BOY, Geno!

One of the few shining stars of AKARadio known only to his adoring fans as Geno has graduated to the next level of internet radio greatness.

The Geno Show, a recent big hit ever it hit the internet radio scene at AKARadio will be doing the same thing it's always been up to (that is to say playing the absolute best selections from emo, punk and ska) with one minor exception.

As of the 27th, he will be doing so to a much larger audience.  In what is quite a coup, Geno has secured a slot on the internet's largest punk radio station, RantRadio: Punk!.  You can check it out as always from 10-12 Friday Nights (times EST) on RantRadio: Punk! now.

There are rumors of further syndication since his joining of the "Pirate This! Radio Network," known for syndicating the famed Mark and Darrell show. You can be sure that we will report such news as soon as we learn of it here at rizzn.com

Check out the Geno Show website for updates and details: here.

/rizzn

Political Roundup. Kerry Lied. Bush Lied.

Our presidential candidates lie to us and each other.  This shouldn't be news to us, but it seems to be.  We could blame any number of sources, but for today, let's just examine the facts.  Right now the news of most prominence is that Kerry's lies, most likely examined in light of news such as Barnes and Noble's claim that demand is far outpacing supply of the Kerry-critical book Unfit for Command, which accuses Kerry of distorting his military record.  It has sold out in less than 13 days.

John Kerry's own wartime journal is raising questions about whether he deserved the first of three Purple Hearts, which permitted him to go home after 4.5 months of combat.

A primary claim against Mr. Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans is that Mr. Kerry's first Purple Heart "awarded for action on Dec. 2, 1968" did not involve the enemy and that Mr. Kerry's wounds that day were unintentionally self-inflicted.

They charge that in the confusion involving unarmed, fleeing Viet Cong, Mr. Kerry fired a grenade, which detonated nearby and splattered his arm with hot metal.

Mr. Kerry has claimed that he faced his "first intense combat" that day, returned fire, and received his "first combat related injury."

A journal entry Mr. Kerry wrote Dec. 11, however, raises questions about what really happened nine days earlier.

"A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because we hadn't been shot at yet, and Americans at war who haven't been shot at are allowed to be cocky," wrote Mr. Kerry, according the book "Tour of Duty" by friendly biographer Douglas Brinkley. 

If enemy fire was not involved in that or any other incident, according to the Military Order of the Purple Heart, no medal should be awarded.

Notwithstanding the controversy over Bush's Air National Guard service (or dereliction of duty), there was another instance when Bush misrepresented his military record. In 1978, Bush, while running for Congress in West Texas, produced campaign literature that claimed he had served in the US Air Force. According to a 1999 Associated Press report, Bush's congressional campaign ran a pullout ad in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that declared he had served "in the US Air Force and the Texas Air National Guard where he piloted the F-102 aircraft."

Bush lost that congressional race, but twenty-one years later, the AP questioned him about the ad. The news outlet had a good reason to do so. Bush had never served in the Air Force. He had only been in the Air National Guard. But when AP asked Bush if he had been justified in claiming service in the Air Force, Bush, then the governor of Texas and a presidential candidate, said, "I think so, yes. I was in the Air Force for over 600 days."

Karen Hughes, his spokeswoman, maintained that when Bush attended flight school for the Air National Guard from 1968 to 1969 he was considered to be on active duty for the Air Force and that several times afterward he had been placed on alert, which also qualified as active duty for the Air Force. All told, she said, Bush had logged 607 days of training and alerts. "As an officer [in the Air National Guard]," she told the AP, "he was serving on active duty in the Air Force."

The Air Forces says that "Air National Guard members are considered 'guardsmen on active duty' while receiving pilot training. They are not, however, counted as members of the overall active-duty Air Force."

Its an experiment you can try at home.  Call your local Air Force recruitment office and ask them if a Air Guardsman is considered an Air Force Member.  My money says no.

I would make a public call for our candidates to get back to debating the issues instead of trashing each other's names, but I think we are all aware that this will never happen.  First of all, our country has a strong contingency of Jerry Springer clones in our cable network news.  Secondly, it is oh-so-much easier to pander to the lowest common denominator in society.

More importantly, they don't want the people examine these simple facts: both major party candidates have serious skeletons hiding in their closets, both major party candidates have nearly identical histories and stances on the issues, and both cadidates are deeply entrenched in the same subculture of elitism and big business.

Simply put, we are stuck with the choice of the same side of two different coins.

/rizzn

Plane Crashes in Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A plane carrying 62 people crashed in Russia's Tula region south of Moscow on Tuesday, Itar-Tass reported.

The Tu-154 aircraft, with 54 passengers and eight crew on board, crashed near the village of Buchalki, some 110 miles south of Moscow, the agency said, quoting a local civil defense and emergencies official.

In a separate report, Interfax news agency said air controllers lost contact with a Tu-154 taking 44 passengers from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

It quoted the Emergencies Ministry as saying contact stopped at 3 p.m. EDT when it should have been 90 miles from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

It was not immediately clear if this was the plane that crashed near Tula, more than 500 miles northeast of Rostov.

Tupolev's Tu-154 jet remains the standard medium-range airliner on domestic flights in Russia, according to aviation Web Sites. Some 157 ft in length, it can carry up to 180 passengers for up to 2,500 miles.

International hacker ring busted

p2pnet.net News:- A large international network of hackers who stole computer programmes, films and music and then sold them on the black market has been broken up by Polish police.

Police in Gorzow Wielkopolski, western Poland, smashed a ring involving more than 100 people and active in Poland, the US, Australia, Britain and Slovakia, police spokeswoman Agata Salatka told Agence France-Presse.

Five Polish computer programmers thought to be the group's leaders were arrested and face up to eight years in prison, she said.

The hackers got into the computers in universities and technical institutes in several countries, "using the large memory of the powerful computers to stock, without the knowledge of the owners, the most modern programmes, music, games and the most recent films," AFP quotes Salatka as saying.

The gang was "shadowed" by Gorzow Wielkopolski police last October, aided by the FBI and police in Britain and Slovakia, adds the story.

[via source]

Feds: Anger drove Varian hacker: `Disgruntled' ex-programmer accused of erasing code

By Jay Fitzgerald
Tuesday, August 24, 2004

A vindictive software programmer upset about his cancelled contract snuck into Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc.'s computer system and zapped out e-commerce coding he and others had been developing, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan charged yesterday.
     Patrick Angle, 34, now of Columbus, Ind., was hit with one charge of intentionally damaging a protected computer system, Sullivan's office said yesterday.
     Angle and his attorney could not be reached for comment yesterday.
     According to Sullivan's office, Angle became ``disgruntled'' with Varian after working as a full-time employee and then later as an independent contractor.
     Angle started working for Varian in 2001, moving his family from Indiana to New Hampshire, where he regularly commuted to Varian's headquarters in Gloucester. His job: developing Varian's e-commerce software that would allow the firm to conduct business with its vendors.
     Angle later moved back to Indiana, with the intention of performing his duties via the Internet from his Midwest home. But Varian made him a contract employee without benefits, a move Angle ``resented'' and believed violated agreements, Sullivan's office said.
     He was told last September his contract would be terminated. Nine days later, Sullivan's office said, Angle logged into Varian's computer system from his home and deleted the coding he had been developing with others and tried covering his cyber tracks by altering computer logs.
     The action was to ``vent his frustration with Varian,'' prosecutors said.
     The software code was later retrieved ``at great expense,'' costing Varian $26,455, Sullivan's office said.
      A spokesman for Varian could not be reached for comment.
     If convicted, Angle faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
      Sullivan's office has been aggressively pursuing computer hackers.

Abortion, Gay Marriage and Common Sense (pt 2)

(Part One is here : It's Precurser is Here)
One or two of you might think that this is a response to your article posted right here on this site.  You'd be correct!  Ab-so-friggin-lutely correct!

(are we going to hafta make veiled references to who the target audience of our articles are to from now on?  We wouldn't want those people at [the unmentionable station] to get offended because they think we're talking about them.  Oh wait, too late!  This probably offended them... doh!)

Since this is a continuation of an article in reference to one of my articles, I'll skip the description of my beliefs and jump straight into the apologetics.

Despite the fact that George W. Bush has bastardized the term, I am somewhat of a "Compassionate Conservative."  This is how I identify with my belief that abortion is wrong.

Many people who read these pages and listen to my words know that I feel very strongly about this issue mostly because I'm adopted myself, and as an adoptee, I'm very grateful my birth-mother decided not to abort me (as it was legal, and a viable option in 1979). 

I say I'm grateful, but then some days ....

But seriously, the topic of abortion cannot be discussed and the option of adoption not be brought into it.  Most if not almost all cases of where abortion is used as a form of birth control (one of the more despicable reasons to kill an unborn child, in my opinion), adoption is a much more desirable and viable option.  The waiting lists for parents in America who want to adopt infants and are unable due to procreation problems is miles longer than number of available infants.  American parents have been known to even go overseas to adopt to aleviate long waiting lines.

With regards to the gay debate, my aim was not to make an iron-clad statistical case against homosexual marriage (although it would not be a hard case to make given the opposition's factual basis for their position), but merely to point out that homosexuality isn't the life affirming condition it is painted out to be. 

Many things in this world seperate people from the norm, some of them genetic, some of them learned behavioral, and they aren't all considered a life affirming condition, and are treated as something not to be hated for but to be relieved from.  Given that preference plays a part in the lifestyle of a homosexual (preference to practice or not to practice their desires, be they optional or not to have the desires in the first place), it is quite a reach to offer what is barely 2% of the population a definition that retracts thousands of years of established dogmatic principal.

At the very least, if the issue is to be pushed to it's logical conclusion, the very best that the conservative viewpoint has to offer deserves to be listened to without being ridiculed or laughed at.  Just because your sensibilities are offended when someone says something doesn't mean those words don't have merit.  No one here is advocating for the death of all homosexuals.  No one here is denying them the rights that heterosexuals have.  What conservatives are protesting is their right to re-define what society considers a marriage.

To the argument that marriage and legitimacy being the means of ending the "amoral" lifestyle of the gay community, I'd like a historical example of when the concept of appeasement ever worked to satisfy a hungry movement for social change.

Certainly the civil rights movement achieved good pursuing basic civil rights for African Americans, but it did nothing past the 60s and the 70s to empower and legitimize the black community as a whole.  As a minority, they are still one of the most "oppressed" communities.  Is it because the white man is still keeping them down?  Or is it that they are unable to rise up and become successful due to their culture of entitlement? 

I'm getting off track here and not working well to prove a point, so let me get back to it... there is a perversive culture that surrounds a lot of the homosexual community and various homosexual subcultures, and as long as we are speaking in terms of bringing them out of the darkness into legitimacy, I think it needs to be acknowleged that there are things that are uncomfortable to talk about pervasive to the gay community. Things like NAMBLA being fairly well represented in many Gay Pride parades.  Things like the pro-active recruiting drives many lesbian activism organisation use to target youth.

We should be aware of what we are legitimising, and realise the consequences of acquiesing to a very small segment of societies wishes in order to simply avoid political controversy.  There is a slippery slope involved, and I'm not saying we should not go down it, but we should at least wear rubber golashes so as not to fall (you know, cause they have the grippy things on it.  Sorry, the metaphor well ran dry a while back, that's the best I can do).

/rizzn

Mark And Darrell Show for 08-22-2004, BBTL is Down, and Dole makes some scathing Kerry remarks

Unfortunately, in one of our better shows (definately better ratings shows), the recorder malfunctioned, and I have exactly 20 minutes of a Sean Kennedy show recorded on what's supposed to be a four hour mp3 of the MAD show.  Don't ask me how this happenned.... I'm not quite sure, but I was having problems with the recorder before the show... but my computer's been acting funny all day. (I lost four days work on a client's website today for no explainable reason, for instance).

At any rate, I suggest you might go into our archives and use the spare time to listen to an old show of ours to tide you over until next week's archive comes out.

In other news, the "Blinded by the Light" website has been taken down at Er1c's request.  The explanation can be found on the link above.

On news of a bit broader scale, former senator Bob Dole made some interesting remarks about John Kerry today:

Former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the Republican presidential candidate in 1996 who was severely wounded in World War II, questioned Kerry's medals -- "never bled that I know of,'' Dole said -- and he criticized his testimony to a congressional committee in opposition to the Vietnam War.

"One day he's saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off their heads,'' Dole said in an interview yesterday on Cable News Network. "The next day he's standing there, `I want to be president because I'm a Vietnam veteran.'''

/rizzn

 

Virus alert: Rbot sets your webcam to spy on you

Jo Best : silicon.com : August 23, 2004

A new worm has been discovered in the wild that's not just settling for invading users' PCs - it wants to invade their homes too.

The Rbot-GR virus follows a fairly traditional malware route of exploiting Microsoft security vulnerabilities and installing a Trojan horse on infected machines. However, the worm also spies on users by taking control of their webcam and microphone, then sending images and soundtracks back to the hackers, according to antivirus firm Sophos.

As well as getting an insight into homes and businesses across the world, the worm also allows the malware writer to take a look at information on the infected machine's hard drive and to steal passwords, as well as launching denial-of-service attacks.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said that the virus could be used for industrial espionage - or simply by a nosey hacker to take a look into people's bedrooms.

"Whether this worm is the work of professional snoopers or lusty teenagers - it's hard to say for certain. What we do know if that there have been a few hundred different versions of the Rbot worm, all of which have been designed to gain some kind of remote access to innocent users' data. This one goes further by also specifically collecting webcam footage," Cluley said. "It seems more and more hackers are building a cocktail of different functionality into their creations."

For those who have the virus, they may be unaware their every move could be being tracked by remote hackers. An infected webcam may show an "active light" when it's being used but for webcams without such light, there's no giveaway the hacker is watching.

There is, however, one simple way to dodge the prying eyes of the malware merchants - just unplug or switch the webcam off when it's not in use.

Screen Shot from the Chernobyl game  

This Sunday's Mark and Darrell Show

the M&D Show is on the air as usual, and today we're going to review a couple movies, talk about our drama, as well as give away some cash, talk about some new political developments (like the RNC, and a landmark filesharing case) amongs many other things, plus take your calls and talk your ear off.  Tune in!

/rizzn

Now playing: Rizzn Do'Urden - Mark and Darrell Show Theme

[links from the show]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/532/532930p1.html?fromint=1 - Crytek
http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?p=423812#post423812 - New Driver
http://www.stalker-game.com/ - Chernobyl Game
http://mmodating.com/ - Dating for gamers
http://www.3dgamers.com/games/closecombatftf/ - Marine Recruiting with Video Games

Operation Typhoon gets two thumbs down from Jeff-Man...

 

 

Teal Group Predicts UAV Market Will Double By 2014

Anaheim CA (SPX) Aug 05, 2004
With Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) comprising the most dynamic sector of the aerospace industry, a new Teal Group market study estimates that this market will more than double over the next decade, from current worldwide UAV expenditures of about $2 billion in 2005 to $4.5 billion in 2014.

Teal Group analysts released details of their new UAV study during the AUVSI Unmanned Systems Symposium and Exhibition taking place this week at the Anaheim Convention Center.

"The most significant catalyst to this market has been the enormous growth of UAV funding by the US military, tied to the general trend towards information warfare and net-centric systems," said Steve Zaloga, a Teal Group senior analyst and one of the study authors.

"UAVs are a key element in the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance portion of this revolution, and they are expanding into other missions as well with the advent of hunter-killer UAVs."

The study suggests that the US will account for about 90% of the worldwide RDT&E spending on UAV technology over the next decade, and about 70% of the procurement. These represent higher shares of the aerospace market than for defense spending in general.

"The disproportionate US role in this field is due to the heavier US investment in cutting-edge technologies, and the marked lag time in such research and procurement elsewhere, notably in Europe," said Zaloga.

This follows trends in other high-tech sectors observed over the past decade by Teal Group analysts in such areas as precision guided weapons, information and sensor technology, and military application of space systems.

Teal Group expects that the sales of UAVs will follow recent patterns of arms procurement worldwide, with Europe representing the second largest market and the second most significant center for high-tech research, about 10% of the worldwide total.

Teal analysts expect the Mid-East and the Asia-Pacific regions to be the principal markets for UAVs outside the US and Europe. As in the case of many cutting edge aerospace products, Africa and Latin America are expected to be very modest markets for UAVs.

Now playing: Various Artists - Never Did No Wanderin

Voting Machine Conspiracy Theories

When computer scientists warn of possible tampering with voting machines, they are not talking about hacking but about someone physically breaking open the lock on each individual machine and reprogramming it. Even if those breaking into the machines overcome the tamper-proof seals without being noticed, going through one computer at a time hardly seems like the way to steal most elections.

What about the nightmare scenario that a Republican manufacturer will secretly program the computers in advance to alter the election? Suppose that such a tampering scheme were to occur. Such tampering would easily be revealed as the precinct election workers check the machines for accuracy with sample votes both before and after the election.

Some machines are even randomly chosen to test during the day just in case their programs were set to only miscount votes during voting hours. If the programming switches, say, one out of every 10 votes, it would show up when sample votes are fed into the machines.

A few electronic voting machines, along with even more optical scans, offer election officials the option to collect vote counts using encrypted modems in addition to removable read-only memory. Michael Wertheimer, a security expert commissioned by the state of Maryland to evaluate electronic voting security, reportedly "broke into the computer at the state Board of Elections" during a test and "completely" changed the election results.

Electronic voting machines were billed as the wave of the future just months ago. But now, by today, California's Secretary of State Kevin Shelley will have to decide whether to ban them. Even if he doesn't, the Legislature is threatening to do so. Supposedly, electronic machines – being installed across the country – will allow all sorts of fraud.

This month Democrats on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights joined the chorus against electronic voting machines claiming: "We're ending up in '04 with the very same problems and issues that were there before."

Senators Hillary Clinton and Bob Graham, as well as Congressmen Rush Holt and Tom Davis recently introduced legislation to help prevent any fraud by requiring that electronic machines have paper-recording devices. Florida Congressman Robert Wexler has even brought a lawsuit because he worries that the Bush brothers will steal the election again, this time using electronic machines.

State and federal governments are spending billions of dollars to replace punch card machines with electronic machines. Yet, instead of improving the election process, the claims of fraud may poison the political debate for years to come.

Bill Maher's jokes may be funny: "Some 13-year-old hacker in Finland is going to hand the presidency to (singer) Kylie Minogue!" And, more seriously, Sen. Clinton warns Democrats how "hacking" can easily "skew our elections" and points out that a Republican is the second largest manufacturer of electronic voting machines.

While scary, the stories have one major problem: none of the systems is hooked up to the Internet. The electronic voting machines are stand-alone units. It would be like someone trying to hack into your computer while it wasn't hooked up to the Internet. Impossible.

After the election, most electronic voting machines transfer the election results to a compact disk or some other "read only" format. These CDs are then taken to a central location where they are read into a computer. In the 20-plus years that these machines have been used, in many counties all across the country, there has never been a verified case of tampering.

Yet, the tampering wasn't under real-world conditions, used an old system and really didn't change the results. Not only does a hacker have to know what telephone number to call, bypass the modem encryption and determine the password within a very narrow time frame, but two sets of calls reportedly from the same precinct would raise a red flag. Even if all those things go wrong, the original data in the voting machines would not be compromised, and it would still be possible to conduct an accurate recount.

Interestingly, no politicians so far have raised these same concerns about optical scans even though this threat involves hacking a central computer, not electronic voting machines.

Paper ballots add nothing, except generating unnecessary costs. Possible computer crashes or corrupted data are taken care of by multiple redundant memory systems, some of which cannot be altered but are "read only." These memories are constantly checked for any differences.

The irony is that the politicians who complained the loudest about how punch card machines and hanging chads in Florida disenfranched voters are now complaining the loudest about what they earlier insisted was the "cure." Conspiracy theories may rally the political faithful but at the risk of even greater hostility and mistrust among voters.

(article by John Lott, who researches crime, antitrust, education, gun control, campaign finance, and voting and legislative behavior. He is the author of More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws)

Now playing: - 072304v2.wmv

Food for thought: Post from the SoftVote boards

This comes from the www.SoftVote.com forums:

The libbys can't handle anyone with any sort of conviction that differs from them. The vitriolic language coming out of the "mainstream" press truly makes me understand the dangers we are facing. Freedom of the press is one of the cornerstones of our freedom. When the mainstream bases all their sources in the liberal rags like the NY or LA Times, there is little wonder why this country is so divided. If the direction the dems want to take this country doesn't set well with you like it doesn't for me do what it takes to re-elect Bush and Cheney.. Our president has stood fast in the face of world terror. While the libbys would let the UN dictate to us and compromise our sovereignty as a nation.
"Appeasers believe that if you keep on throwing steaks at a tiger, the tiger will turn vegetarian." Kerry is an appeaser. If Kerry were elected the 2nd amendment would be in jeopardy. I'd recommend people read Madison's letters to New York in the "Federalist Papers" to truly understand the significance of the 2nd Amendment in today's society. It is crucial to protect the individual against a federal tyranny.

Make a difference, join and support the NRA. Contact the Bush Campaign and contribute, inform your friends and colleagues to make a difference in November. Kerry is the most liberal person this country has seen in an election race since 1984 with Dukakis.

http://www.nraila.com
http://www.georgewbush.com

"I am the NRA"

Member since 1998

 And on the flip side of things:

I remember back in the 2000 election.
What did Bush promise?
Compassionate Consevativism?

There is nothing compassionate or conservative about unilateral pre-emptive war, promoting far right agendas that alienate half the country, and sending our troops to war without the real reason, a real plan, and real financing to get the job done.

George W. Bush said he would unify this country and ALL HE HAS DONE IS DIVIDE.

He has divided us from each other and the world.

And a clue for all of you Liberal does not mean immoral or not Godly.

That is something someone made up.

And if you haven't read your Bible lately.

Jesus was inclusive not exclusive. He gave love and gave it freely even to those who maybe didn't deserve it. And still does.

We should all live and have a leader that lives by THIS principal.

We need a uniter not a divider.
We need a promoter for all the people not just Big Business and the Thick Religious Right (Wrong).
We need someone that can communicate not a man who went to Yale and can barely audibly speak speeches written for him.
We need a vision not a canned plan from old Reagan mafia.

We need a real leader.

We need John Kerry.

And if not him, a cow could do better.

Jimmy, et. al. of [the unmentionable station] is One Dense Fellow

I should probably lay low (or play dead, as a friend advised me to do today), but I'm jumping back into the fray because this amuses me so.  I mean all I have to do is just exist, and then I get a shower of messages from former [the unmentionable station] people accusing me of things I didn't do, and when I defend myself on my own public forum I get lambasted as a "lune" (it's spelled loon; a lune is a crescent-shaped portion of a plane or sphere bounded by two arcs of circles) on the front page of the station (or as I like to call it, free advertising).

My alleged lunacy comes from one of the following sources, according to the great psychologist Jimmy: a) the magical hand of reality has slapped me in some way, b) or I'm guilty for working for a "kinf of shady racket."

Explanation A doesn't really make a lot of sense.  I mean reality is a sort of term for the sum of our human perceptions.  It can't really slap us physically ... so one must assume it is a metaphor for something else.  What has happenned in life lately that caused me to snap?  And how did my behavior change before and after the events you describe?  I was rude, obnoxious, and reactive to obsessive asshole jerks before I ever came to [the unmentionable station].  This is not a change for me.  I don't give up in a flame war.  I am the damn Energizer Bunny.

Explanation B borders on actionable items.  Jimmy toes the line once again, but then he has no evidence to back his claims, so therefore he continues to dig his grave deeper.  This doesn't concern me.  The line-crossing I speak of is when untrue things are said about me in an effort to damage my reputation or the reputation of my company (or in last night's case, in an effort to criminalize me).

So in response Jimmy, I say "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah."  Also, I'd like to point out that every post on my board has been reflexive, and has never strayed from the truth in this matter (furthermore, everything from day one has been extensively documented).

So watch yourself.  You know where the lines are, and when you cross them, I'll be waiting, and then you'll reap the consequences.  You aren't going to goad me into something by being childish like this.  If you pull another stunt like last night, you'll force my hand, however.

Thanks for the free advertising on your front page... it's always nice to have such dedicated readers like the [the unmentionable station] crew... and I'm glad to know I'll always be remembered.

/rizzn
also, like a fungus, I will grow on you.

Now playing: Dario G - Heaven Is Closer (radio edit)

Ric Flair Round-Up

As you all know, I am supporting Ric Flair for President this year.  You can read about me in numerous outlets speaking out about this write-in campaign.  I figured at this point I would be remiss if I didn't bring the issue up again, and speak to what Ric Flair's involvement with politics has been up to this point.... we should know our candidate a bit better.

According to Richard Leiby of the Washington Post in an article yesterday said that "...our favorite pro wrassler of all time, Ric Flair..." would be showing up at the GOP convention this year. 

Obviously, this conflicts a little bit with the platform we at Slick Ric for President we've constructed for him, but what exactly do you expect from someone who's not aware of his own write-in campaign?  It's a subject for debate whether or not we want a cadidate for president that actually desires the office.

If this is the kind of candidate we want, there is evidence that Ric Flair might just indeed be our man. Look to this article from Slam! Sports:

Flair doesn't file to be N.C. governor - yet
Now that Ric Flair is back working for WCW, perhaps he's dropped his thoughts of becoming the governor of North Carolina.

Monday was the filing deadline to run for public office in the state, and Flair did not file.

However, according to North Carolina media outlets, that doesn't count the former world champ out. As an independent candidate, The Nature Boy did not have to file his papers of candidacy Monday, but he will have to collect 96,785 signatures of registered voters between now and June 30.

Thirteen people did register to challenge for governor - seven Democrats, four Republicans and two Libertarians.

Flair is scheduled to be a part of the next WCW PPV, taking on old nemesis Terry Funk.

In other somewhat related news, SoftVote.com has taken down Ralph Nader as of the 16th as an alternative candidate, according to a press release issued on PRweb. There is little hope that we'll get Ric Flair on the ballot of SoftVote without a serious write in petition from his supporters.

I'm of the opinion that all the third party candidates deserve to be listed -- what other place are they going to be shown to the public?  It's more evidence that the Anybody But Bush (ABB) campaign will suppress any and all information just to achieve their ends (despite writing a for the most part impartial utility, the blog of SoftVote definately shows a lean towards the Kerry candidacy with an ABB slant).

Definately food for thought.  Pay attention to RIZZN.COM for more coverage of this idea.

/rizzn

Now playing: Geto Boys - Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta

Teen survey links sexual activity, substance abuse

[Rizzn's Note: Further evidence that doesn't really come as news to conservatives ... vices go together.  Who would have thought that those who rebel often participate in more than one kind of risky activity? 

Abstinence programs still sound like a bad idea?]

WASHINGTON A new survey of American teens shows it's not just a cliche -- sex and drugs often do go together.

Teens surveyed who say most of their friends are having sex are themselves more likely to have tried marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes.

The survey also found that the more time teens spend with their boyfriends or girlfriends -- the more likely they are to smoke, drink and use drugs.

The annual survey was conducted by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. It asks young people age 12 to 17 about their use of illegal substances. Researchers then check for other factors that could be associated with such use.

The center's president says this year's results show a "tight connection" between teen sexual behavior and substance abuse. Joseph Califano warns that parents whose children are dating or sexually active should be on alert for signs of substance abuse.

[View Source]

Now playing: Dario G - Heaven Is Closer (radio edit)

Now playing: Dario G - Heaven Is Closer (radio edit)

Now playing: Dario G - Heaven Is Closer (radio edit)

Now playing: Afroman - Because I Got High (Extended Version)

Guilty, says Oprah jury

A US jury convicted a man of murder after a trial that turned into a media frenzy because TV chat show host Oprah Winfrey was in the jury box.

Jurors deliberated for more than two hours before convicting 27-year-old Dion Coleman of first-degree murder in the February 2002 shooting death of 23-year-old Walter Holley.

"When your life intersects with others in this way, it is forever changed," said Ms Winfrey, speaking outside the Cook County Criminal Courts building.

She was paid $24 a day for her civic duty, and next week plans a show about the trial with other jurors.

TV cameras shot her every move outside and inside the court building's bustling lobby, and more than a dozen reporters and sketch artists filled many of the seats in the cramped courtroom.

"This is not good for the victim's family. This is not about Oprah Winfrey, the fact is a man has been murdered," Ms Winfrey said. - AP

[View Source]

Now playing: Dario G - Dream to Me (Airscape remix)

Accusations auf AKAradio

I feel it's my responsibility to report this information to the public, as there continues to be a smear campaign targeting my good name in effect from AKA.  I'm not certain if it's a conscious effort to target me, or is a result from misguided community pride on AKA's part.  Regardless, it is crossing into territory dangerously close to harassment and slander/libel.

Witness: it is no secret that I wrote scripts which for the good of the community propped up the programming to ensure it extended 24 hours a day.  Between the two computers in my office devoted to that, there was always some automated script firing off.  The ways these scripts launched were wide and varied... some were custom applications, some were bought applications, some were launched from "Scheduled Tasks" in Windows, some were "StartUp Tasks" in Windows.

Spread those different methods across 2-3 computers and you've got a lot of clean-up to do.  Despite all the clean-up there was to do, I missed all but two or three scripts.  They were: 1) the script that uploads the Jimmy Factor at 3AM daily until all the archives were moved from my computer to the server, 2) the bot which broadcasts Off The Hook, & 3) Trillian, which unbeknownst to me was trying to log in of it's own accord.

Obviously none of these things will work.  My IP has been banned from the server since before my show was.  If that wasn't enough to keep me out, the passwords have been changed.

If I was trying to hack you idiots, do you think you'd even know about it?  Do you think I'd use my own IP address?  Do you think I'd try to use passwords known to be bad?  There is one or two people at the source of this rumor mill.... I know who you are, and you know who you are.  Stop it, or don't, it makes no difference.  Only you can keep this from becoming an actionable case.

Like I said when my company's name was threatened -- there is certain amounts and types of abuse I can take, but when it crosses the line (and I do know very clearly where that line is), I will react.  This is a second warning to the community.  Pursue this line of inquiry and accusation and there will not be a third.

---

Just so we're all on the same page, the log that was sent to me was this exactly:

Authentication Failures: mafia (66.232.9.30 ): 3 Time(s)

Y'see, Mafia was the old username (actually it was mafia@cam-mafia.com).  The password changed all the time, but it generally cycled around mafia themes like mafia, mafioso, sopranos, as well as the occasional oddball password like ibetyoucantguessthisone and cooter.  If I was doing a dictionary hack, I'd probably throw in some other password variations like rizsuck, or nodrama, since bagging on me has become a cultural pasttime at AKA.

That's neither here nor there, but it shows a working knowlege of the password schema by me of the AKA crew.  If I were to try to hack them, I would make more than three tries, make them from someone else's IP address, and go with a dictionary hacker based on this theme. 

More than likely, however, as absentee as GT is with that box, there's probably some security holes that allow you to bypass the brute-force hacking attempts altogether.  Not sure, myself, as I don't know, and I don't care. 

Lastly, WHY would I hack into it?  Is there a motive?  Can you even think of one?  You think I'm so insulted by everyone's idiotic accusations that I'll just flip out and hack your box from my own workstation?

rizzn: "Bwaahh I can't take it anymore...i've GOTTA HACK AKA RIGHT NOW.. aahhh"

<rizzn furiously taps away at the keyboard attempting to break into the AKA server.  After a short burst of typing, there is a silence.>

rizzn: "Drat, that's the only password i know.  I even tried it three times in a row! This is hopeless."

<He gives up, as the psychotic fit passes as quickly as it came.>

I mean seriously.  If you thought logically about this (I know, it's hard, but try it some time) you would have avoided embarrassing all the emissaries you sent over to accuse me of crime.

So, my final words to everyone over there at AKA that try to orchestrate my doom: a) quit using pawns for your dirty work, b) next time you accuse me of a crime and spread it around enough that multiple people come asking me what the hell is up, you'd better have proof a bit more substantial than that utter crap I pasted up there.

/rizzn

Now playing: Tank! Remix (Cowboy Bebop) - Luke Vibert Remix

Now playing: Tank! Remix (Cowboy Bebop) - Luke Vibert Remix

Olympic Volunteer Blog

I'm not a huge fan of the Olympics specifically (or sports at all, in general), but I must say that I do enjoy this rare behind the scenes look at a major world event chronicled here: http://athensolympicgames.blogspot.com/.  A good example of the new independant media... sites that spring up and go away based on events sponsored by no one, but useful to all interested.

The hard task is aggregating the data efficiently, correctly, and quickly.  I've yet to see anything to combine all these qualities into one utility... although I would welcome a correction on my assessment.

/rizzn

Now playing: Bjorn Lynne - A Rude Awakening

Oscar-Winning Film Composer Bernstein Dies

By Gregg Kilday

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Elmer Bernstein, whose eclectic film music ranged from the rousing theme of "The Magnificent Seven" to the lighthearted score for "Thoroughly Modern Millie," for which he won an Oscar, died Wednesday at his home in Ojai, Calif. He was 82.

The composer died after a lengthy illness -- the exact cause of death has not been determined -- with his wife, Eve, and his two daughters, Elizabeth and Emilie, by his side, a spokesperson said.

Bernstein worked steadily in films and television since the early '50s, writing more than 200 major film and television scores, encompassing a range of genres.

"Never has anyone reinvented themselves so many times," said Richard Kraft, Bernstein's former agent and longtime friend. "And he didn't just compose one film in each genre, he did a few. He would become the go-to guy for completely different genres, and he kept that going for 50 years. From the first Oscar (nomination) to the last is almost a five-decade span."

Most recently, Bernstein's "Fanfare for the Hollywood Bowl" was performed by conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in June to celebrate the inaugural season of the Bowl's new stage.

He wrote his last major film score, a lush evocation of '50s melodrama, for Todd Hayne's 2002 drama "Far From Heaven," for which Bernstein received the last of his 14 Academy Award nominations.

"His last project was a documentary on Cecil B. DeMille for TCM (Turner Classic Movies)," said Jeff Bond, senior editor of Film Score Monthly. "It was a great score that let him revisit his 'Ten Commandments' style and adapt some early silent film scores."

A memorable film score depends on a memorable melody, Bernstein insisted, reminiscing last year at a luncheon of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers. Calling melody "the emotional core of a film," Bernstein said "a good line will always win."

Bernstein introduced jazz elements into American film scoring with 1955's "The Man With the Golden Arm," Otto Preminger's groundbreaking drama about heroin addiction, and went further in that direction with 1957's "Sweet Smell of Success," which captured the moody tempos of Broadway by night, and 1962's "Walk on the Wild Side," scored to the rhythms of a New Orleans bordello.

But almost simultaneously, his work also ranged from sweeping epics like 1956's "The Ten Commandments," with all its biblical sound and fury, to intimate Americana like 1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird," which introduced its themes with just a piano and solo flute.

After turning out his indelible theme for 1960's "The Magnificent Seven" -- it is quoted in Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" and, inevitably, evokes a laugh of recognition from audiences -- Bernstein frequently turned to Western fare in the '60s. He scored John Wayne's last seven films, including "True Grit" and "The Shootist."    

[View Source]

Now playing: Propellerheads - Spybreak!

Web page to help with installation of WIndows anti-hacker security patch

Information Technology Systems and Services (ITSS) has created a Web page that will walk Microsoft Windows XP users on campus through a major update being released worldwide this month to make the operating system less vulnerable to computer hackers and viruses.

Downloading of "Service Pack 2" will change how Internet Explorer handles pop-up windows, consequently affecting users of business applications such as Kronos, PeopleSoft and Oracle Financials. The Web page that ITSS has set up will guide staffers through the installation process and the reconfiguration of Windows XP once it has been updated.

The page at www.stanford.edu/dept/itss/ess/pc/xpsp2/index.hml also contains a tool that will assist with the reconfiguration and that should be downloaded and run after users have completed the update. Microsoft initially made the patch available to Windows XP users in mid-August, through an automatic-update service built into the operating system.

But not everyone uses the automatic update, which will deliver the patch to a limited number of Windows XP users worldwide per day, said Jay Stamps, an ITSS technical support consultant. Service Pack 2 should be available through the Microsoft Windows Update site, http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com, in late August. Stamps said that date is approximate because Microsoft has changed the release date several times.

Even with a fairly fast Internet connection, the installation could take two hours or longer to complete, and the download requires at least 1.8 gigabytes of free disk space, Stamps said. He added that the majority of computers on campus are PCs.

The need to install the patch isn't as urgent for Windows XP users who downloaded Service Pack 1 and subsequent updates. But as soon as they have time, ITSS recommends they download Service Pack 2 because it "offers real improvements in Windows security." Those with additional questions are asked to submit a help request at http://helpsu.stanford.edu.

[View Source]

Now playing: Various Artists - DJ Dee-Kline - I Don't Smoke

RIZZN.COM Version 7.4 is out

I hope you all enjoy the new layout.  I spent a couple evenings on this when I should have been catching up on work.... so if my life turns to shambles because I'm behind the eightball, I'm holding each and every one of you responsible.  Or something.

At any rate, let me answer a few questions before they come up.  The picture on the front page is my hand showing off my new Microsoft Watch.  Or, if you prefer, you can think of it as a picture of my girlfriend.  Either way, that should elimated the jokes and the such about the pink website (an undoubtably give rise to a slew of new jokes).

What's on the horizon for rizzn.com?  Well, we're shifting focus a little bit.  I've got about a half-a-dozen sub-sites, and I'm currently seeing who wants to join me on this, but what will end up happening is we'll be rolling out in minor version numbers until we have a full flegded community out.  RickyWorld, DJ Colonoscopy and the Shit, Knight_tyme, Daizy, Whatever, and a few others, hopefully, will be joining forces and doing what they have been doing all along, basically being creative with the webspace they have... except they'll all be branded with the same design, and hopefully draw some new readers to their site.

That's the hope anyways... watch for period revisions culminating into version 8.0 as we move toward this goal.

BTW, I know it's probably still fairly buggy ... any bug reports (i.e. dead links, missing graphics) should be reported to guesswho@rizzn.com. Much appreciated.

/rizzn

Now playing: Pedro the Lion - Simple Economics

Now playing: Darude Vs Robert Miles - Children Of The Sandstorm (DJ Arnie)

Getting Jobs, and Riz is Biz(ee)

I don't know what these fools are talking about when they say the economy sucks and no one has a job or something.  I just ran through my list of people to offload web-design work to, and the only ones who were without jobs were the Canadian ones.

Some of the ones who had their own web design firms were so booked up that my projects wouldn't even get looked at for a month.  Goes to show you ... can't believe everything you hear on the news or from the pundits, I suppose.  I mean web-design isn't a McJob.  It's big business.

In other news, I need people to add to my list of contractors for web jobs... we could be taking in a great deal of volume soon, and I'm booked up for about 37 days with my work.  Apply Here.

I'm working on a new design for rizzn.com.... I've shown a few of my friends what it looks like and they seem to like it.  I think it'll be a vast improvement over what I've got.  It might even be the final release of rizzn.com ... at least for a while.  I've been changing designs around here about every 3 months (I was going to make the metaphor "like I change underwear," but that's gross... a pair of underwear every 3 or 4 months?  ewwww).

I think we can all agree that this would be a decent design if it was a) less crowded, and b) I was gay or a chick.  It's just too ... damn ... pink.

Otherwise, I'm keeping busy.  Like I said, I've got enough work to keep me busy for about 37 days, without interruptions.

If you live in South Florida, and want to be an inhouse tech, let me know.  If you are a superb web designer and want to telecommute, let me know.  If you are a programmer of any kind in South Florida, let me know.  No telecommuters of any kind for the tech or the programmers.  The web designers, if I can trust you to be self-motivated, can telecommute.

I am back to the grind.

/rizzn

Now playing: Radiohead - 2+2=5

Alleged KPU hacker charged under telecommunications law

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In the country's first cyber crime trial, the prosecution recommended that defendant Dani Firmansyah be charged under the Telecommunications Law, for hacking into the General Elections Commission's (KPU) website in April.

Prosecutor Ramos Hutapea told a hearing on Monday at the Central Jakarta District Court that the defendant had violated Article 22 of Law No. 36/1999 on telecommunications, for illegally manipulating access to a telecommunications network.

Article 50 of the law stipulates a maximum sentence of six years in prison and/or a fine of Rp 600 million (US$ 66,666) for the offense.

Ramos told the court presided over by Judge Hamdi that the defendant had violated the law by hacking into KPU's election website on April 17, and changing the names of several parties, whose tallies were then being counted and displayed on the website.

The prosecution explained that the defendant had used a computer in his office at PT Danareksa, which had an Internet Protocol (IP) address of 202.158.10.117.

Twenty-five-year-old Dani then tried to elude tracking using a technique called spoofing, in which he hid his computer's real IP address behind that of a computer located in Thailand, with IP address 208.147.1.1.

Using that IP address, Dani then exploited a bug in the database program used by KPU's website, using a technique called Structured Query Language (SQL) injection, in which he entered an arbitrary code into the website using a web browser.

After analyzing the results of the code, Dani managed to understand the database program's algorithm, and entered further codes that eventually enabled him to change the names of the parties.

The KPU information technology (IT) team nevertheless managed to track down Dani and reported him to the police, who later arrested him on April 23.

The KPU said that no critical data had been compromised, as Dani had only hacked into a computer that was actually connected outside KPU's main network.

Several IT experts said that charging Dani under the Telecommunications Law would be inappropriate. The police and prosecution, however, said that the law would be sufficient as Indonesia does not have a law on cyber crime yet.

The experts also suggested that Dani be required to do community service, such as providing his expertise for the government or the police instead of sentencing him to prison.

While under arrest, Dani, who is a final year student at the School of International Relations at Muhammadiyah University Yogyakarta, has been asked by the Jakarta Police cyber crime unit to help improve its website.

The trial was adjourned until Aug. 23 to hear the defendant's response to the charges.

[view source]

Now playing: Blazing Lazer - White Castle Theme Song

Upgraded Global Hawk UAV Achieves First Flight

illustration only

Farnborough UK (SPX) Jul 20, 2004
The first air vehicle in a new production lot of upgraded RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles made its maiden flight on July 1. Designated AF-3, the newest Global Hawk flew from Northrop Grumman Corporation's manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif., to the Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base.

The four-hour flight was flawless, adding to a long list of accomplishments for the U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk. Northrop Grumman is the Air Force's Global Hawk prime contractor.

"The first flight of AF-3 is a significant milestone for Global Hawk because it will be the first air vehicle from Lot 2 to be delivered to the Air Force with several combat-proven upgrades integrated into the system," said Carl O. Johnson, Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk vice president and integrated product team leader.

AF-3 is part of Lot 2 of Global Hawk low-rate initial production. Northrop Grumman expects to deliver the air vehicle to the Air Force later this month. The company also expects to deliver the first production launch-recovery element next month.

Production Lot 1, which includes two air vehicles and one mission-control element, is nearing completion. Northrop Grumman expects to finish Lot 1 on schedule and cost. Production Lot 2 is well underway with deliveries scheduled for both the Air Force and the U.S. Navy.

The Global Hawk system has recently surpassed the 4,000 flight hours mark through its deployments to Florida, Australia, Germany, and three deployments to support the war on terrorism, which account for 2,000 of those hours

To date, Northrop Grumman has received more than $2.3 billion in related design, development, testing and production contracts. This month, the company will begin production of the next-generation Global Hawk air vehicle, designated the RQ-4B, at its Antelope Valley Manufacturing Center in Palmdale, Calif.

The RQ-4B will accommodate a 50 percent increase in payload weight, and will feature a larger wingspan (130.9 feet), a longer fuselage (47.6 feet) and a new generator that can deliver 150 percent more electrical power. Northrop Grumman plans to deliver the first three RQ-4B air vehicles in 2006 as part of LRIP Lot 3.

[via SpaceWar.com: UAV News]

The moment you've all been waiting for...

[rizzn's note: when did the world weekly news become the onion?]

AL QAEDA PLANS TO DROP GAY BOMBS
Men within 30 miles of the blast will instantly turn queer!

By Nick Jefferies

EXTREMIST Muslim scientists are developing a bomb that turns anyone within a 30-mile radius of its blast into a homosexual, say U.S. Intelligence insiders.

It's all a part of the Al Qaeda master plan to pull our country apart and kill the patriotism that makes us strong. "

They believe that making more Americans gay will start civil war between gays and ultraconservatives," says one highly placed intelligence officer. "They also figure it will lead to a decrease in the U.S. population."

The Gay Bomb was already in the planning stages when Osama Bin Laden and close, intimate friend Muhammad Atef founded the international terrorist group Al Qaeda in 1989.

"Atef and Bin Laden spent many late nights together during that time of revolution," reveals an ex-Al Qaeda member, who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

"One morning, I entered their living quarters and they had worked so hard the night before they had fallen into bed together, suffering from exhaustion.

"That's when I saw the blueprints for the bomb. I asked about it, but Bin Laden said to leave it to the scientists. He and Atef had accidentally set one off the night before."

The explosive device is a foot long and shaped like a cigar with a pair of land mines at one end. Planes carrying the weapons will drop them on all major U.S. cities, except, of course, San Francisco, reveals the source.

The Gay Bomb will detonate the instant a heterosexual male steps on one of the mines, releasing potent waves of the female hormone estrogen into the air.

Within hours, heterosexual men will experience terrible urges like: "I'm dying to make out with my buddy in the next cubicle," and "I want a divorce from the witch I married," and "I wonder if I should redecorate the living room."

By the end of the day, the nation will be thrown into chaos. Wives and husbands will square off, leaving a trail of broken families from Hollywood to New York City.

Children will sob: "Why is Daddy moving the furniture and who is Judy Garland?"

Civil war will break out between conservative heterosexuals and newly single guerrilla fighters whowill likely call themselves the PLH, or Proud Latent Homosexuals.

"The only way to stop this horrible vision of the future is to analyze an exposed person's biochemistry and come up with a vaccine before the gay bombs strike," explains a government scientist.

Fortunately, Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge has stepped forward and volunteered for the dangerous job.

"We will reconstruct the gay bomb from the ex-Al Qaeda member's memory of the blueprints and set it off," says the scientist.

"Mr. Ridge will be as queer as a three-dollar bill until we find an antidote. Hopefully, we will discover the cure before it becomes permanent and he remains a gay man forever."  

[via World Weekly News]

"Civil Liberties in Danger."

"Some notes from a 30 year (now reformed), white, Constitutional Conservative Republican activist on our rights."

The RIGHT scoffs at the notion that rights are disappearing, the LEFT howls loudly that; IT is happening now! But I have a question; what is a CIVIL RIGHT? The Washington, DC (DC) crowd, and the Media talk about "civil rights" all the time. The greatest bait and switch in history! Who gave up my Constitutional Rights? I want his/her head on a platter!

The Constitution garuntees our unalienable rights from birth. Who gave Congress the Right to REMOVE, or even ADD any kind of RIGHT? Civil implies that Uncle gives, and Uncle takes away;RIGHTS. Is this even possible? NO! TREASON is not a book title; it is a description of Congress' behavior over the last 59 years. In my own country "we the people" are quickly becoming the "Palestinians" in our own homeland; and the governing are becoming the Israeli's "occupyingus!" Look around, listen to the DC crowd on HOMELAND security; it is the end game. Think about it fellow Palestinians, think about it!

From the Israeli checkpoints to smell our breath, to the secret police being built at this moment.

It is happening now!

Would love to track the internal destruction of our RIGHTS from VJ-day 1945 to this point HERE ON THIS BLOG; but not enough space for that.

Just remember that Ed: "TheFalcon" was the one that put this into so many words first! If I can get my two books published you will see the truth writ large; with no names left out.

Look for:"Who's killing the great experiment" and "PROHIBITION II, Safety or Treason." Probably released through LuLu Online Publisher soon.

"We the people" and that "more perfect union" are gone forever. Even the perfect system depends on PEOPLE, and bad people are much more likely to seek power than are good ones. We are in trouble!

How long will it take to transfer the prison tactics, door busting jack booted law enforcement to our own soil that's being used in Iraq; daaah, DC learned those tactics here! It is already SOP!

Do you think the propaganda over the last 40 years was just a whim? Us against them, that is the order of DC thinking. Bad news for all of us, mark my words.

/Ed "TheFalcon."

[via the comments on I protest.]