A Peculiar Blog

Well, the economic news is continuing to slide and things aren’t looking good. According to the labor department, employers cut another 62,000 jobs in June, bringing the total to around 400,000 or so since January ‘08.

The cause? Well, lets just say that I think it’s reasonable to lay the blame for so many empty refrigerators squarely at the feet of Big Oil. The never ending, ever increasing greed that has them making record breaking profits while the rest of us spend more money to buy less fuel.

Since the fuel prices keep going up, the cost of moving anything is going up. Add to that the absolutely ridiculous idea of adding ethanol to gasoline, which is causing the price of corn to skyrocket as well. Then it follows that anything that’s made with corn and food animals that eat corn and corn products are going to cost more and more.

Meanwhile, we’re burning gas that’s got ethanol in it… in cars that are NOT made to burn ethanol and therefore are not getting as much gas mileage as they should. You end up having to spend three or more times as much to buy fuel that won’t go as far.

This insanity needs to stop. Alaskan and offshore oil reserves need to be opened up. More refineries need to be built, at least enough to double the production capacity. and instead of spending all their profits buying back their stock and giving raises and bonuses to executives, Big Oil needs to do some REAL research on alternative fuels.

Imagine what they might accomplish if they were to spend 40 Billion dollars on actual research into alternative fuels?

Technorati Tags: alternative energy, alternative fuel, refineries, unemployment, production capacity, oil reserves, big oil, research, jobs, gas prices, oil prices, ethanol

I recently wrote about a Ransomware attack called GPcode that encrypts files on the victim’s computer and then offers to sell them a decryption key to get them back.

According to Kaspersky Labs, When GPcode does it’s thing, it first creates a copy of the file it’s going to encrypt. Once that encryption is done, it deletes the original file. Here’s where the fix comes in. When a file is deleted, it isn’t really erased or destroyed unless and until something writes over that same spot on the disk where it was stored. This means that if you get to it soon enough, it’s possible to recover the original file that GPcode deleted.

There’s a free utility called PhotoRec that was originally developed to recover graphics files. It’s since been expanded and now can be used to recover a wide variety of files. It’s available as part of the latest version of the TestDisk package

If you suspect that you’ve been attacked by GPcode, Don’t reboot the computer, absolutely never pay the ransom by “buying” the attaker’s “decryptor” utility. Instead, get the PhotoRec utility and use it to recover the deleted original files.

This fix isn’t guaranteed, and it won’t always work, but it’s certainly worth trying.

Technorati Tags: ransomware, Security, Kaspersky Labs, photorec, Hackers, GPcode, recover deleted files, recover files

It’s possible to do a lot of blogging without the use of links but sooner or later you’re going to want to include a link to some page you want to share or that is somehow relevant to something that you are writing about. I’ll also grant that by and large I think that a majority of people that blog pretty much have enough know-how to do this.

However once in a while I still get asked questions about how to do these things so I thought that I would write a tutorial in an effort to make it clearer. I’ve included screenshots to clarify what I’m saying.

Enter the text of the post as you would normally write it. Then, to make a link, highlight the text that the link will be anchored to, click the “Link” button and either type or paste the url for the link into the box that pops up.
 
 

When you click the “Link” button, a box will pop up, this is where you either type or paste the url of the page that you want to load when someone clicks on the link text.

When you click “Ok”, the text that you had selected before will now be wrapped in a bit of html code that makes it into a link that can be clicked on.

Technorati Tags: wordpress, blogs, tutorial, blogging, html, link

Ok, this is happening in the UK but this particular flavor of censorship could easily be adopted by American ISP’s. There’s a joint venture between Virgin Media and BPI (the British Phonographic Industry), which represents the major record labels. (I believe it’s their version of the RIAA)

Here’s the part where you give everyone in the theater rope enough and hope they strangle the really bad movie…. The BPI wants ISP’s to implement a “three strikes” rule. The idea is that if they catch you downloading illegal files, specifically the copyrighted music they’re allegedly representing, for a third time then you get disconnected from the Internet… The ISP is supposed to cancel your account and nuke your access.

They’re estimating that there’s some 6.5 million customers whose accounts they say are used for “regular criminal activity” and Virgin Media is being very much the BPI/RIAA/MPAA errand boy for this little venture. They’re apparently ready, willing and able to snoop customers, determine what they’re downloading or sharing and then cut off their accounts if they don’t stop. Presumably they’ll also be handing over all the details of what they decide are illegal downloads to their masters so that more grandmothers and six year old kids can be hauled into court and sued.

Somebody on Slashdot put it very nicely:

“In other words, you download a few songs and they’ll come along and cut off the one wire that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly.”

In reality, it’s not going to stop anyone serious about file sharing OR copyright violation. All it’s going to do is while innocent people are being harassed and sued, the serious ones will develop and use advanced software that will allow them to continue trading movies, music, software and anything else they want without ISP’s even being able to know that it’s going on let alone what is being shared.

Technorati Tags: virgin media, download songs, spy on customers, freedom of speech, lawsuits, bpi, orwell, download movies, isp spying, copyright, riaa, censorship

The primaries are over, the conventions are still yet to come (though I don’t see the point of having them since the outcome of each is already predetermined) and all parties are now focusing on the general election in November. Things are barely getting started and already the fear tactics have begun:

LIEBERMAN: U.S. MAY BE ATTACKED IN 2009

In describing the reasons he believes the Republicans’ presumptive nominee for president would be better prepared to lead the nation next January, Sen. Joe Lieberman said that history shows the U.S. would likely face a terrorist attack in 2009.

What’s annoying about this is the timing. Yeah, we’ve all heard it before and it’s obvious to anyone who’s paid any attention at all in the last eight years that there is always a potential for another terrorist attack. However it’s interesting and more than a bit annoying when the only time anyone want’s to talk about it is when they can use it to try and leverage fear into more votes for their side.

Playing on fear is every bit as bad, or even worse, than the mudslinging that candidates always promise to avoid and always end up doing anyway.

Technorati Tags: republican, fear, play on fear, terrorist attack, campaign, presidential campaign, joe liberman

I just saw an article about HP’s newest toy… would you believe .. a *BILLION* color display? Well, that’s what they’ve come up with. Not only that, but it’s a LCD technology to boot. What I can’t help wondering is just how much ram do you need to work with a billion colors and still be able to do everything else the system needs to do?

It’s not *quite* the first of it’s kind, since there are other “Color Critical Displays” available, but they’re costing $15,000 to $25,000 a pop. This sucker clocks in at a paltry $3499.

This is the kind of technology used by outfits like Dreamworks animation, who was in a joint venture with HP to develop this new display. Dreamworks is reportedly VERY excited about this because it’s apparently already solved a huge problem they had.

Technorati Tags: hp, display, technology, color critical display, dreamworks, billion colors

Here’s an interesting note, According to an interview with John De Goes, president of N-BRAIN, open source has effectively killed the software developer tools market. Apparently, in today’s open source software world, there’s a lot of people that have become set in their ways when it comes to the development tools they use. “Some developers would rather quit their job than be forced to use a new editor or IDE.” De Goes said.

He’s right too. When you become comfortable working with a particular set of tools there’s every reason not to change. Not the least of which is the almost total loss of productivity during the time that it takes to learn new tools, how they work, their inner quirks and so on.

Easier by far to stick with what you know. For example, I’ve seen all kinds of html editors out there, some free, many not free. I won’t touch any of them because I’ve been using Notepad and Arachnophilia 4 practically since it came out and changing to something else is going to be like pulling teeth. … I’ll do it when there’s absolutely no other choice and not until.

Technorati Tags: habits, development tools, software development, resistant to change, software, change, development tools market, programming tools, open source

poolfloatsmart.com is one of those sites that, especially in the hot weather we’ve had locally in recent days, almost cools you off a touch just looking at it. It’s images of inviting pools and people relaxing in pool floats is a hard one to pass up when it’s 90 degrees in the shade like it’s been recently.

Carrying a full line of foam floats and lounges and a line of inflatable floats, the site is easy to navigate. Clicking on the thumnail image of a product gets you a page with a larger image of it and full details about it.

Go ahead, take a look at it and see if it doesn’t make you think of a refreshing afternoon in a pool, I dare you.

Technorati Tags: foam floats, review, inflatable floats, website, pool floats, swimming pool, pool

What do you do when you’re toiling away at the project of the moment and all of a sudden your monitor goes dark? There’s no clicking sounds, not a whiff of smoke or a flicker of the lights. The computer itself continues merrily along, waiting for your next input or instruction. Checking and double-checking the connections show that they’re all good. Cooling is ok, Etc. The only apparent problem is that the monitor itself simply will not show a picture anymore.

Well, What I did when that happened to me late yesterday afternoon was all of the checking and testing that I could think of, followed by switching out the monitor with a borrowed unit. However that main one is going to have to be replaced asap. Unfortunately, like most people these days, reserves are not there for a replacement.

So I’ve decided to do the only other thing I can think of and place a shiny new Paypal donate button in the sidebar in a blatant effort to raise cash for a monitor

Thanks for your patience and we now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, broken monitor, raise cash, raise funds, broken, monitor, computer monitor

I just read a blog entry titled “Disposeable soldiers“. It’s one of those things that wakes you up and makes you ask “Can this really be happening?”. The pathetic answer is “Yes, It can.”

According to an investigation reported on Good Morning America The Veterans Administration is up to it’s eyeballs in a scandal involving testing drugs on war veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The case that’s blowing the lid off of this mess involved James Elliott, a former US Army sniper. You’d think that suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder would be enough to deal with.

Three years after he was diagnosed with PTSD he was recruited to take part in an anti-smoking study involving the drug Chantix for $30 a month. Some months after he started taking it he suffered a return of Iraq combat nightmares and stopped sleeping.

That was only the beginning. He also suffered from a whole range of side effects of the drug in the form of “Neuropsychiatric behavior” which includes “anxiety, nervousness, tension, depression, thoughts of suicide, and attempted and completed suicide.”

One day after having a few beers he “snapped” and went out with his gun, daring the cops to shoot him. Police stopped him with a tazer. Three weeks later the VA informs veterans in the Chantix study about the side effects of the drug. Information that they had for three months.

The part that should have heads rolling is the fact that the VA knew about the side effects of Chantix weeks earlier. There had even been an FDA warning (pdf) about it.

The VA claims it did all that it could and acted as fast as it could. Dr. Miles McFall, co-administrator of the VA study was quoted as saying “This didn’t justify an emergency warning at that level” What’s really mind numbingly stupid is the fact that the VA has no intentions of stopping the Chantix experiments. Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania said he was stunned by the VA’s decision to continue the Chantix experiment as well we all should be.

On the same level of “anything in the name of profits”, Pfizer, the company that makes Chantix says that “the benefits of Chantix outweigh the risks”.

I’ll grant that quitting smoking is a good idea. I’ve done it myself and anyone who smokes is doing themselves and everyone around them a favor by quitting. However I cannot understand why it would be considered worth the chance of becoming suicidal or having other dangerous psychopathic symptoms.

Simply put, the VA needs to be forced to stop the Chantix testing, be held accountable for the damage caused by it and pay for the treatment the test subjects are going to need to return to a normal life.

Then there’s Pfizer. As soon as it was discovered that Chantix had these side effects the stuff should have been scrapped, production and testing halted, and all stock of the drug destroyed. The FDA should have required all of this as soon as it knew about the side effects. But of course, therein lies the problem.

The FDA is, for all intents and purposes, in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies that it’s supposed to be regulating. It relies on them to provide test results of the products that they want approved when the testing should be done by an independent entity that owes no allegiance to any pharmaceutical companies and stands to gain or lose nothing from the results of the testing. Perhaps then that testing could become reliable.

In the meantime, there’s something like 140 veterans out there still taking Chantix and the VA has no intention to stop the testing. Sure looks to me like maybe Pfizer is running the VA. Several things need to happen to fix this mess.

First up, this testing has to stop immediately.

Second, all VA drug testing programs need to be re-evaluated and I’m thinking that most of them would be better off scrapped.

Thirdly, The VA owes an apology to the veterans that it has used, abused, and treated like guinea pigs and lab rats.

Fourth, several high ranking people in the VA need to be fired and perhaps prosecuted.

Technorati Tags: vets, veterans, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, James Elliot, stop smoking, suicidal thoughts, PTSD, side effects, afghanistan war, good morning america, disposable heros, iraq war, Chantix, shell shock, veterans administration, suicide, Neuropsychiatric behavior, drug testing