J-Walk Blog: January 27, 2003 Archives

27 January, 2003

Circular References

Here is my response to Adam Barr's invitation to create an endless loop.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Kevin Mitnick Can Use a Computer Again

Hacker gets arrested and goes to jail for eight years. The The New Yorker describes what he does when he's off probation and finally able to use a computer. See An Ex-Con Logs On

Mitnick looked dazed by the concept of a pop-up ad

Posted on 27 January, 2003

One Good Thing About That SQL Server Worm

It has certainly reduced the amount of spam originating from Asia. Hey, let's keep those South Korean servers down as long as possible.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Selling Music on the Web

From PC World: Music Retailers Team Up on Online Services

Determined not to cede their customers to the wave of new digital music companies, six major brick-and-mortar music retailers have formed a consortium aimed at negotiating competitive licenses with the record labels so they can launch their own online music offerings.

Together, they represent some of the largest music retailers, including Best Buy's Musicland and Sam Goody stores, and Tower Records' FYE and Strawberries stores.

Let's hope this venture fails miserably. Get a clue, music industry: People don't want to buy DRM-crippled WMP files.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

If Lincoln Used PowerPoint

What if Abe Lincoln used PowerPoint to help deliver the Gettysburg Address? Click here.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

You Want Symbols?

Try symbols.com. It...

...contains more than 2,500 Western signs, arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics. In 1,600 articles their histories, uses, and meanings are thoroughly discussed. The signs range from ideograms carved in mammoth teeth by Cro-Magnon men, to hobo signs and subway graffiti.

For example, you can read about the peace symbol. It also has a facility that lets you search for symbols by characteristics -- for example, find asymmetric close symbols with straight lines that don't cross.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Girls Eating Sandwiches

Yes, a web site devoted to girls eating sandwiches. Even better, the site has been improved:

Now with inane descriptions!

Posted on 27 January, 2003

State of the Union Drinking Game

Get ready for tomorrow's State of the Union address:

The general rules of this game are no different from any other drinking game. A drink is either a shot or a good gulp from a beer (or cider). Different events call for different numbers of drinks and all you do is watch the speech and play along. If all goes well, you'll be unconscious by the time they show the other party's response.

I'll be looking for my favorite Bush word: Nukular.

(via 3bruces)

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Vandalism in Suburbia

We woke up this morning to find this in the driveway.

Stereo system: Intact
CDs: Not missing
Bag of old clothes worth about $2.00: Stolen
Cost to repair: $209
Assessment of perpetrator: Asshole

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Excel Fun and Games

Aaron Blood has compiled a lengthy list of games for Excel, including several versions of Tetris. I used to have an Excel Tetris game available at my site -- until I got a nasty letter from The Tetris Company.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Anti-Spam Consortium

David Berlind talks about an anti-spam consortium -- an "industry-wide consortium committed to an open, royalty-free, interoperable, anti-spam protocol.

Discussion at the MIT conference was largely academic yet absolutely fascinating. In a series of captivating 20-minute presentations, anti-spam experts described the level of success and failure that their anti-spam algorithms, lodged at the edge of the network, were experiencing so far. If successful (and, even by the presenters' own standards, none were 100 percent successful), these algorithms might one day keep our inboxes unclogged, removing significant interference to our productivity and minimizing the drag on valuable resources such as storage and bandwidth.

I wonder if this conference addressed the critical factor in spam: STUPID USERS. Spam exists because stupid people respond to it. It's really that simple.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Unlikely Slashdot Articles

If you read Slashdot, you may find this amusing.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Flash Kaleidoscope

Create a kaleidoscope.

Posted on 27 January, 2003

Microsoft: Heed Your Own Advice (Take 2)

From CNET: Microsoft fails Slammer's security test

Microsoft's policy of relying on software patches to fix major security flaws was questioned Monday after a series of internal e-mails revealed that the software giant's own network wasn't immune from a worm that struck the Internet last weekend.

Microsoft urged customers to fix a vulnerability in the SQL Server 2000 software, but it apparently hadn't taken its own advice. Moreover, despite its 1-year-old security push, the software giant still had critical servers vulnerable to Internet attacks.

Also affected were the servers that handle Windows and Office product activations. I read about this on Slashdot, and then made a phone call to check it out. Sure enough, Microsoft was not able to activate any products for at least part of the day on Saturday.

Posted on 27 January, 2003