Will the Dalai Lama reincarnate?
As the health of the Dalai Lama seems uncertain, the question remains: will he be reborn this time? and, if so, where?
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Je me souviens … l’accord de partage de l’utilisateur
Facil, an open-source community based in Québec, is suing the Québec government for buying Microsoft software when free alternatives are available. Facil’s press release
says, in part, “From February to June 2008, FACIL has noticed sales of
proprietary software for more than 25 million dollars. These purchases
were made for products offered by large multinational enterprises, with
no regard to suppliers in Quebec. … While most of the developed
countries have started, a few years back, migrating their technological
infrastructures to Free Software, Quebec’s public administration is far
behind.” Some applaud Facil’s move. Others, not so much.
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Heroes
A Serbian village erecting a statue to reggae superstar Bob Marley? Sure, why not? A Bosnian town with a statue of kung-fu legend Bruce Lee? Hell, yeah! And how ’bout, say, a Serbian monument to Rocky? Er, well.. ok. But the British Museum displaying what they say is the largest gold statue built since ancient Egypt, of… Kate Moss? Um… I dunno. I prefer the Russian monument to the enema.
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This is Me
The aim of Self-Portrait Challenge
is to create an online community of people participating in a
continuous artistic self-expressive art project; self-portraiture. (images in the nude category obviously NSFW) They also participate in the Flickr: self portrait tuesday group.
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The Middler
Your
Gmail account isn’t secure. Announced at Defcon
16, Jay Beale’s tool, The
Middler (man-in-the-middle) to steal session ID from not only Gmail users,
but LinkedIn, LiveJournal, Facebook, and presumably any site that uses a session-based
cookie. Enable
https permanently.
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Rat Sound, the original punk rock sound company
Rat Sound Systems is the original punk rock sound company. Started in LA in the early 80s, it was a stalwart of the early LA punk scene (posters: it did happen). Starting in the 1990s, Rat Sound has been supplying sound for some of rock’s biggest acts. They even went corporate, with a client list including Paris Hilton.
Since May 2006, founder Dave Rat, who mixes the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the audience, has been keeping a tour blog.
Those of you who (like me) are interested in audio nerdery may be interested in the Sound nerd speak section of Dave’s blog. (e.g. drum fills, subs, input lists, amplifiers, the Grateful Dead’s wall of sound)
You may also read about the technical evolution of sound systems, from humble beginning to the Rat Trap 5 cabinet of the 1990s and the L-Acoustics V-DOSC and Microwedge of today. Also of interest: Dave’s Roadiepedia.
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Cramp Free
They’re everywhere; languishing on doorsteps, hanging out in the middle
of the road, dangling off street signs, peeking out of piles of
garbage, reclining in the middle of the sidewalk, riding the bus for
free. London Bananas.
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Mythbusters Paint Mona Lisa With 1100 Barrel Paint Ball Gun
Mythbusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman
demonstrate the difference between CPU and GPU by painting the Mona
Lisa in 275 milliseconds using a 1100 barrel paint ball gun earlier
this week at NVIDIA’s NVISION 08 show.
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Comcast tech calls grandpa a crook and disconnects him
A Comcast tech showed up at a Consumerist reader’s grandad’s house and
totally failed to understand how their cable was set up and billed. So
he called them thieves, cursed at them, and disconnected their cable.
Naturally.
I come outside to witness my grandpa and the Comcast guy in a screaming
match. The Comcast tech is threatening to leave and I ask “What the
heck is going on?!” Well, my Grandpa starts telling me that he
disconnected his cable and says we do not have a cable account with
Comcast and basically accuses my Grandpa of hijacking cable. Okay, last
time I checked, most 74 years old probably don’t know how to hijack
cable. So my Grandpa gets really upset and starts back for the house.
I’m trying to find out from the Comcast tech what is going on and my
Grandpa comes back out 2 seconds later with a Comcast bill in his hand.
He goes to hand it to the Comcast tech and he rudely replies “Sir, I
don’t want to see your fucking bill. If you don’t go back in your house
and quit disrespecting me, I’m going to just leave.”Meanwhile, I ask my Grandpa to try and let me straighten it out and
go inside for a minute because I could tell at this point he was
getting really upset. So I continue to ask the guy what the hell is
going on all the while he is telling me he isn’t going back in the
house to hook up my internet because he doesn’t appreciate my Grandpa
“disrespecting him”. Well, from what I saw, my Grandpa didn’t really
deserve to get his cable turned off and treated in such a way. I
finally talk him into hooking up the internet (I needed it for school
as my homework is submitted online). But the issue still remains with
my Grandpa’s service. So I ask the tech why he thinks we don’t have
cable. He replies “When I look up the phone number on the account, it
only shows internet, no cable television. That’s a red flag mam.”
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People Power
It was a mass protest held outside the halls of Washington. Led, or at least it was supposed to be, by Martin Luther King Jr. (before he was assassinated) it was going to show the world the glaring divide that existed between the Rich and the Poor of America. Black, White, Red, Yellow–they all gathered from all over the US, to stay together for six weeks, outside the Capitol, and inform
the public about what life in America could sometimes mean, if you were
not considered economically, socially or racially acceptable.
Unfortunately, the problem still persists, even today.
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Keep your cool
levelHead is a spacial memory game by artist Julian Oliver,
using a hand-held solid-plastic cube as its only interface. On-screen
each face of the cube contains a little room, each of which are
logically connected by doors through which you guide your character. Take a look at a demonstration or build your own levelHead setup.
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Life without parole: Child prisoners in the US
“In the US, there are 2,270 prisoners [report, news release, with testimonies] who were sentenced as children to life without parole. They will die behind bars. Ed Pilkington asks five of them – from a 21-year-old to a 70-year-old – how do they cope?”
Related: as of 2005, executions of prisoners for crimes committed as children is no longer permissible in the United States.
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Not being a geologist, I can’t get very technical but it just went kaboom!
Wall Arch in Utah’s Arches National Park has collapsed.
Other notable collapses in recent years:
- London Bridge, Victoria, Australia (collapsed January 1990)
- Old Man of the Mountain, Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire (collapsed May 2003)
- One of the Twelve Apostles, Victoria, Australia (collapsed July 2005)
- Natural Bridge in Aruba (collapsed September 2005)
- El Dedo de Dios, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands (collapsed November 2005)
- Turret of Miner’s Castle, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan (collapsed April 2006)
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Who is the Man — Dead at 65
Known for many musical hits such as Shaft to being the voice of Chef on South Park, Isaac Hayes has died. Let them enjoy his “Chocolate Salty Balls” in Heaven.
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McCain: Damn Kids Get Off My Lawn T-Shirt
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Yes, its political, but its funny.
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Best of CRAFT
Here are some of my favorite posts from the CRAFT blog this week:
- Knitting Mario Level One
- HOW TO – Bleach Stencil Placemats
- HOW TO – Bake a Guitar Hero Cake
- Felt Knobs
- Pictorial Gocco Tutorial
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Big Breasts Rock Out on Rock Band
well not really adult, but I’m being nice 🙂
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Dildo, Newfoundland
http://www.craveonline.com/share/x/7574
Dildo, just up the shore from my home town.
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A Visit with Hello Lucky – CRAFT Video Podcast
I got a chance to visit Eunice and Shauna of Hello Lucky,
a letter press studio in San Francisco. Hello Lucky is known for their
beautiful letter pressed cards that also have a whimsical sense of
humor. The ladies took me on a tour of the studio where I learned the
letter press printing process as well has how they create their
designs. The Hello Lucky studio is peppered with vintage furniture and
decor. See the rest of my visit in my Flickr photos.Stop by the Hello Lucky blog for lots of design inspiration!
If you are in the San Francisco/Bay Area, visit the Hello Lucky studio shop!
http://blip.tv/play/gZIvxc8q5wQ
Hello Lucky
977 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
phone: (888) 552-3724
hellolucky.com
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Essential Bluetooth hacking tools
Bluetooth technology
is great. No doubt. It provides an easy way for a wide range of mobile
devices to communicate with each other without the need for cables or
wires. However, despite its obvious benefits, it can also be a
potential threat for the privacy and security of Bluetooth users.
If you are planning to gain a deeper understanding of Bluetooth
security, you will need a good set of tools with which to work. By
familiarizing yourself with the following tools, you will not only gain
a knowledge of the vulnerabilities inherent in Bluetooth-enabled
devices, but you will also get a glimpse at how an attacker might
exploit them.
This hack highlights the essential tools, mostly for the Linux
platform, that can be used to search out and hack Bluetooth-enabled
devices.
Discovering Bluetooth Devices
BlueScanner – BlueScanner searches out for
Bluetooth-enabled devices. It will try to extract as much information
as possible for each newly discovered device. Download BlueScan.
BlueSniff – BlueSniff is a GUI-based utility for finding discoverable and hidden Bluetooth-enabled devices. Download BlueSniff.
BTBrowser – Bluetooth Browser is a J2ME application that
can browse and explore the technical specification of surrounding
Bluetooth-enabled devices. You can browse device information and all
supported profiles and service records of each device. BTBrowser works
on phones that supports JSR-82 – the Java Bluetooth specification. Download BTBrowser.
BTCrawler -BTCrawler is a scanner for Windows
Mobile based devices. It scans for other devices in range and performs
service query. It implements the BlueJacking and BlueSnarfing attacks. Download BTCrawler.
Hacking Bluetooth Devices
BlueBugger -BlueBugger exploits the BlueBug vulnerability.
BlueBug is the name of a set of Bluetooth security holes found in some
Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. By exploiting those vulnerabilities,
one can gain an unauthorized access to the phone-book, calls lists and
other private information. Download BlueBugger.
CIHWB – Can I Hack With Bluetooth (CIHWB) is a Bluetooth
security auditing framework for Windows Mobile 2005. Currently it only
support some Bluetooth exploits and tools like BlueSnarf, BlueJack, and
some DoS attacks. Should work on any PocketPC with the Microsoft
Bluetooth stack. Download CIHWB.
Bluediving – Bluediving is a Bluetooth penetration testing
suite. It implements attacks like Bluebug, BlueSnarf, BlueSnarf++,
BlueSmack, has features such as Bluetooth address spoofing, an AT and a
RFCOMM socket shell and implements tools like carwhisperer, bss, L2CAP
packetgenerator, L2CAP connection resetter, RFCOMM scanner and
greenplaque scanning mode. Download Bluediving.
Transient Bluetooth Environment Auditor – T-BEAR is a
security-auditing platform for Bluetooth-enabled devices. The platform
consists of Bluetooth discovery tools, sniffing tools and various
cracking tools. Download T-BEAR.
Bluesnarfer – Bluesnarfer will download the phone-book of any mobile device vulnerable to Bluesnarfing.
Bluesnarfing is a serious security flow discovered in several
Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. If a mobile phone is vulnerable, it is
possible to connect to the phone without alerting the owner, and gain
access to restricted portions of the stored data. Download Bluesnarfer.
BTcrack – BTCrack is a Bluetooth Pass phrase (PIN) cracking
tool. BTCrack aims to reconstruct the Passkey and the Link key from
captured Pairing exchanges. Download BTcrack.
Blooover II – Blooover II is a J2ME-based auditing tool. It
is intended to serve as an auditing tool to check whether a mobile
phone is vulnerable. Download Blooover II.
BlueTest – BlueTest is a Perl script designed to do data extraction from vulnerable Bluetooth-enabled devices. Download BlueTest.
BTAudit – BTAudit is a set of programs and scripts for auditing Bluetooth-enabled devices. Download BTAuding.
What’s next? Let everyone know to disable Bluetooth until they
really need it. Additionally, make sure to update your phone software
on a regular basis.
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Total solar eclipse tomorrow
This image (three combined frames) shows the last total solar eclipse, March 29, 2006. The next one takes place tomorrow. The Exploratorium will Webcast the event live from China. From Science News:
This particular eclipse will sweep across the planet in a
slim path that begins in Nunavut, a northern province of Canada, and
ends in northern China. So people in parts of Canada, northern
Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia and China will be able
to witness the seconds-long blackout.When the moon totally obscures the sun — the moment of
totality — the sun’s outer atmosphere, called the solar corona, becomes
visible. The solar corona reaches temperatures higher than a million
degrees Celsius and extends farther than 620,000 miles from the star’s
surface. Because the sun’s surface is brighter than its corona, a solar
eclipse is the only opportunity to see the corona with the naked eye.
Total solar eclipse (Science News), Total Solar Eclipse 200 Live from China (Exploratorium)
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Hilltop speaker lets you project your voice from your cell phone throughout the land
The “Telemegaphone Dale” by Magnus Torstensson and Erik Sandelin is a
loudspeaker post on top of Bergkletten in Dale, Norway. To use the
project, just call it with your cell phone and your voice is amplified
and played out the hilltop speaker. The project officially opens on
August 2nd and is part of a larger project called “Parafunctional
Payphones” that addresses public, telephonic art installations.
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Fast Food Apartheid
Fast Food Apartheid:
The Los Angeles City Council has placed a one-year moratorium on the
opening of fast-food restaurants in sections of the city with
low-income residents. The council says it’s meant to encourage healthy
fare in locations that lack ready access to supermarkets and healthy
restaurant. This columnist calls it “fast food apartheid.” We’re
not talking anymore about preaching diet and exercise, disclosing
calorie counts, or restricting sodas in schools. We’re talking about
banning the sale of food to adults. Treating French fries like
cigarettes or liquor.
RobDurdle.com 
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