Not Selling You Anything - Just My Fragile Ego

Apparently there's an NFL draft In Philly. I find this stuff out on the news. The city is expected to be an even bigger mess, although I can't figure out why.  Send it to New Jersey, where they could cover it between shootings. But, there's little to report on these days since cancer was cured.

• Some enterprising bastard of a hacker took control of over 200 ISIS accounts, loading them up with gay porn. This is pretty fun news, although probably misguided. The should have gone with sex with pigs to get the point home. Ok, it's pretty close either way...

Surprise! 'Inbox tidying' service Unroll.me has been caught selling data. Who would have thought that a service that has access to your email sells data? In this particular case (wanna bet there are others?), Uber bought data on Lyft receipts. The data was 'anonymized'.  The CEO has apologized for not being clear enough that it sells anonymized data to clients.  Terribly sorry we didn't make it clear that we get your firstborn.

ThermionicEmissions would like to provide you with a Guide to Data Privacy.

No.

That is your guide.

Does a service want access to your inbox?  No.

Does a service want access to your network?  No.

Does a program want access to anything else on your phone?  No.

Does a program want location access?  No.

If you ever experience a moment of doubt, ask yourself WWTED: What Would ThermionicEmissions Do? HINT: the answer is generally going to be no, unless it involves mamallian protuberances.

• Webroot Antivirus 'mistakenly' flags Windows as malware and Faceyspaces as a phishing site. I'm not sure why they said mistakenly...

Saudi Arabia has just been elected to the UN Women's Rights Commission. In other news, Palestine has been elected to the UN Commission on Antisemitism.

• Serena Williams has confirmed her pregnancy on social media. Seriously, who cares? It's a good thing cancer has been cured.

How's Marshall doing, you ask?
Spectacular! Even better than an NFL draft!
The surgeon said his incision healed completely and he won't require more meds. When the Cone of Shame came off, he went right back to Puppy Mode (he's about 13), jumping on furniture, making himself at home on the bed, getting up and down the steps without difficulty, and generally being a Happy Spaniel. We're absolutely overjoyed and thankful.

• Here's an interesting little android stat: over two million users have fallen victim to malware from the Google Play store, in the form of guides to games.
• partial list: guides for FIFA Mobile, Criminal Case, Super Mario, Subway Surfers, Pokemon Go, Lego Nexo Knights, Lego City My City, Ninjago Tournament, Rolling Sky, Amaz3ing Spider-Man, Drift Zone 2, Dream League Soccer, and many more.
• Google has cleaned the mess up but if you have downloaded any of these, it's time to run an antivirus.

What kind of fresh stupidity is this? In the name of 'gender equality', a Washington teacher doesn't let boys play with Lego ..to allow the girls to 'catch up'. 

• Our long national nightmare is over: Costco has Chocolate Frosted Flakes back in stock. Good thing - we were going through detox.

Today's As-Yet Unheard Phrase: "He loaned the wheel from our mower to the neighbor."

• Today is Alien Day. As a Martian-American, I couldn't be more proud.

As we know, I'm usually behind the 8 ball because I don't keep up with Popular Shit. In an effort to fix that, and because I care about you, I want to bring you a new term: Stealthing. And I want to bring you its definition: a man removing his condom during sex. Yes, this is now a Thing.

• The latest payment card breach is brought to us by Chipotle. This is the firm that also brought e.coli to their burritos, so it would behoove them to get it right. They believe the breach took place between March 24 and April 18 and there is no more information provided. Chipotle has not enabled the chip on payment cards, claiming it will slow down lines.  I just ate there and have damn near full confidence in their ability to keep e.coli out of my food.

Google thinks my Ubuntu linux browser is Safari. To make things more interesting, it will not allow me to upload pictures.  It's all too much first thing in the morning.

• A headline from this morning: Murder victim's Fitbit contradicts husband's version of events.  We won't get into the article but check out the title... Fitbit data. The data collected by the woman's Fitbit. Remember: all of these devices collect your information. Even if you're not planning on murdering anybody, which I hope none of us are, be aware of this with any new program or device.

Hoo boy - Amazon's new Echo Look goes wherever you get dressed and will tell you if that outfit looks good (or makes you look fat). Amazon has confirmed this data will be stored 'indefinitely'.  Yes, you too can have Amazon in your bedroom - but it won't do 'that' for you.

• When we were young, we marveled at the thoughts of what technology would accomplish in our lifetime. It's 2017, we still have cancer, but damn, those Instagram filters are da bomb, no?

You're No Fun Anymore

The US Navy and Marines are cracking down on nude photo sharing. Yes, this can no longer go on without permission of the person photographed nude. Apparently this regulation makes it more illegal to post nudes, as it was already illegal under "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." Kinda like hate speech.

Which brings me to my next thought: do the armed forces only hire gentlemen? What about ladies? Do we want an armed forces that only hires gentlemen - or would it be like Britain, where they apologize for bombing countries? "Oh, terribly sorry... our planes seemed to have dropped bombs on your factories."

No, I don't want gentlemen - I want rude, crude, lewd, and bright fighters.

• When the lovely folks from AntiFa peacefully attacked Trump supporters with violence and bike locks, the Reddit Detective Squad went into action to identify the culprits.  What did they turn up?  Diablo Valley College and SFSU professor Eric Clanton.  From the site: His work in political philosophy also centers on mass incarceration and the prison system. Yes, a college professor assaulted 'the enemy' with heavy metal. I don't remember these classes in college....
• Rioting 101: how to dress. Will this face mask make me look fat? What is the correct shade of black for my skin? Dreads: are they right for me?
• Rioting 201: weapons. Bicycle locks, Hyundais, and small anvils. Demonstration by the Acme Weapons Company.
• Rioting 302: when caught, how to blame Trump for your actions, the weather, and how your free speech has been eroded by being prosecuted for assault. Releasing a statement to the press about how the whole thing has been caused by the White Male Patriarchy.
• Remember, California: all of this would not be possible without your tax dollars!

A 19 year old pair of McDonalds dipping sauces sold for more than 11,500 pounds on Ebay. My calculations put that figure at $47.533 grams but the article specifies $14,700. Believe whichever you choose. Say what you want about the economy, but someone has too much money.

• Berkeley campus on lockdown after loose pages from Wall Street Journal found on park bench.  Ok, this is from The Onion, but it's not far from reality.

In today's Internet of Things news, there is an internet-connected juicer. No, really. It has a brand new feature, in that it doesn't work when the internet is down.

• The local Fox morning show, a favorite target of ThermionicEmissions, features a local kid playing hackeysack. The show is never short of useful information.

In Marshall news, he's headed to the surgeon for his (hopefully) last post-op visit. He gets his Cone of Shame removed, which should make things easier on him and his parents. It didn't take him long to get used to it, by which I mean walking around, smashing into things and knocking other things over, then circling back to do it again.

Now we have this thing I call The Doggie Dance, largely because I can't think of any other names at this moment.  Whenever he wants something, he whines. Unfortunately the same whine can mean "I want to go outside," "I'm hungry", or "I'm thirsty" and you have to try each of them to figure out what he wants.

Dog whines. I walk to door and ask if he wants to go outside. He stares at me and doesn't move. I sit down.

Dog whines. I walk to door and ask if he wants to go outside. Again, he stares at me. Again I sit down.

Dog whines impatiently.  Oh, it must be food. Fill bowl. Dog eats food. I sit down.

Dog whines and walks to door. Apparently he has to do things in a certain order. Doggie OCD? Don't ask me. And I'm not asking the vet, as we've already bought her a Mercedes and sent her entire family on a cruise to the Bahamas.

As I sit back down, Dog Barks and whines like he's being tortured. This means "I'm ready to come back inside."

By the time I'm temporarily sitting again, he's satisfied that he's caused the maximum amount of carnage and grief possible at the hour, he goes upstairs, bashes through the bedroom door, and has a nap on the bed. Who runs this house anyway?

• If you use LinkedIn and updated your iDevice app, you got a little surprise popup that asked you if you wanted to make your data available to nearby Bluetooth users, even when you're not using the app. This was a problem for anyone who watches what pops up, especially as this update was just a fix. LinkedIn, owned by a small firm called Microsoft, apologized immediately and is working on a fix. Because I want my phone to ping random strangers near me so I can talk to their owners of the joys of LinkedIn.

you are welcome to save this but do NOT tell anyone where it came from

Sensenbrenner - Half an Idiot

Wisconsin representative James Sensenbrenner Jr made some remarks at a town hall last week. When being questioned on collection of private data by ISPs, he stated "nobody's got to use the internet".

What kind of a genuine caveman (homonidus idiotus) are people electing to office? And do I really need to ask that question? Nobody's got to use the internet?

The reason he's only half an idiot is that the rest of what he said, which probably won't make much of a splash, is that the internet has worked fine all this time with no regulation, so he was hesitant to start now. Very libertarian of you.

• Two time olympic medalist James Cracknell states that North Korea is one of only two countries in the world that has "a handle on obesity."  You say handle on obesity, I say starving.

It's that time of the year... the time around April 19, when we celebrate Waco and the FBI building bombing, as well as Philly's own MOVE demolition. Always a happy time (and time for reflection on how these happened).

• If you happen to be visiting a certain African village, and who among us hasn't, you'll need to be aware of the gay baboon, who raped five men. Strangely, the African Tourist Board reports increased tourism.

A team has made a solar-powered device that can produce drinking water out of air, even in desert climates. Or they could just come to Philly, where the air is so humid, paper goes limp with moisture some days.

• Two vulnerabilities were discovered and patched in Bosch's auto dongle and smartphone app that allowed researchers to shut off the engine of a vehicle. Via Bluetooth. Why? Because the designers didn't think to allow only diagnostic messages travel around the car.  This kind of forethought will serve us well, provided we don't we don't use it. Oh yeah, and provided it's not installed in our cars. Houses. Refrigerators....

Throughout the years, there have been many complaints leading to jokes on Bose products, especially in the professional sound industries.  Their alleged hifi speakers and direct/reflecting technology had to be pushed through a ton of signal processing to make it work: this is not good for fidelity. Now we have $350 Bose headphones.  One consumer bought a pair and fell for the claim that they'd get the most out of their headphones by downloading an app. You  know, because phone apps make headphones sound better. Oh yes, you needed to provide your name, email address, and headphone serial number.  In exchange for this data, Bose would allegedly take your information, along with the songlist, and give it to a marketing company. As one would expect, there is a lawsuit.

• Venezuela has seized the General Motors plant. That should do wonders for their economy and international relations. Fortunately for Venezuela, it did not seize any US oil-producing concerns (or things could go spectacularly bad for them - see Iraq).

Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin and Kid Rock visited the White House.

I have to admit that the republican wingnuts are slightly more amusing than the democratic wingnuts. Frequently more attractive too.

You rang?

Are You Ready for This? nah

How to keep your passwords safe, from F-Secure. Good tips here.

• The results of a survey on Americans' feelings about ISPs sharing their data without consent are in: they overwhelmingly don't like it.  Every now and then I fall into the majority.  Also, Americans don't like to swim in a moat with piranha.

Heh heh... Burger King, home of the absolutely creepiest mascot ever, is now running a commercial that intentionally sets off voice assistants. It's bad enough that Amazon and Google are listening to your conversations - now the ad people are having some fun with them. Makes me want to run out and buy a few. In my semi-professional opinion, don't. I'll bet that comes as a surprise to you.

• Our condolences to the Murphy family on the death of Charlie Murphy. Charlie was Eddie's brother, in the comedy business for close to thirty years. He died from leukemia. Eddie Murphy had a brother who was in comedy and we had no idea. This will not change, as I will not start watching tv.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of turning the Wendy show off.

• I can't stress this enough: back up your data. I don't even need to tell you why. The article mentions ways to do this, from an external hard drive to online services.  While I don't use online services, they may be the easiest way to protect your data. They can be set up to automatically back up to The Cloud, so there's no effort involved after setup. If you're going to back up to a hard drive, consider another hard drive or take the first hard drive and store it somewhere outside of your house, like a friend or relative's house or safety deposit box. Data is important - treat it as such.

Speaking of watching tv, I haven't abstained totally. Get your downloading shoes on and go get Kodi. Kodi is a perfectly legal media center, meaning it will host and play any sort of media you have (movies, tv, songs, etc). It is available on all platforms, including android and iPhone.  Once installed, you can add download repositories, from which you can watch tv shows, movies, and whatever else. You can watch some live tv, as well as on-demand. This is one of the ways people are cutting their cable tv bill or cutting cable altogether. There are plenty of guides as to how to install and customize the software, although installing is the same as installing any other program.  It is very light, not requiring a lot of storage or horsepower (I can run it on my phone).

Particularly recommended are Lucifer, Lethal Weapon, Chicago Medical, and Britcoms, such as Mrs Brown's Boys, Black Books, and Outnumbered. If you're looking for some ancient movie or tv show, odds are you will find it. I found several from my childhood (no jokes please). Mrs leftystrat found horror movies from waaaaaaay back, as well as some Grade Z recent movies and current runs. Enjoy.

• I think it is safe to say that morning is not my friend.

Marshall update: He's been sleeping downstairs, as climbing the steps is all but impossible with the Cone of Shame.  I decided to keep him occupied by sleeping on the couch (no marriage jokes, please). Two hours into this arrangement, he apparently decided it wasn't working out and went up the steps by himself. Alrighty then.

Heading to the bedroom, where the sleeping is always better, I found him, up on the bed, for the first time in quite a while! This was cause for quiet celebration. He slept the entire night touching me, with no meds. Robin's minstrel's cheered.

Meanwhile, the wife, who decided to keep him company downstairs, saw nothing of him. She was rewarded by not having to sleep next to either of us.

When morning came, he was on the couch, physically attached to me, in the way of anything I chose to do. Sounds like progress!

And his first followup visit with the surgeon went well. They said his recovery was better than they expected.

• It's Good Friday. This is closely followed by Great Saturday and Super Sunday. This is all leading up to a very important day: sales on candy. Or so I'm told.

Every now and then something comes along to make me re-evaluate how I view life; over the weekend I had one. I watched someone take a ride on a rather large two-wheeled conveyance. I am perfectly secure in vehicles, provided they have at least four wheels, so that wasn't an option for me, no matter how much the owner snickered after offering.

The lady returns from the ride and asks her friend if her eyelash is on - it might have blown off. STOP. Eylash? Oh c'mon... fake eyelashes are for pictures and porn. I don't often hear references to eyelashes literally going with the wind.  In the theoretical and mechanical sense, this is something to ponder. Let's add another variable: she has a newborn. I hear they're a handful. Bless her, she's raising a baby and still manages to put fake eyelashes on. I'll be honest, she looks great and no one can tell she had a baby, aside from the obvious.

Which brings me to another eyelash-related happening. My lovely wife sat next to me and subtly indicated I should notice something. When I say subtly, I mean she pointed at her eye and fluttered it like some sort of REM sleep disorder disaster. I knew this was going to be do-or-die, in the marital sense of the word, so I looked closely. Yes, she had applied a false eyelash. And yes, it was visible. And yes, it looked good. And when I say good, I mean it unconditionally. And when I say unconditionally, I mean that the half that adhered to her eyelid produced a most flattering effect. The other half, however, tended to wander between the air and her glasses.

• I got a notice from Google that a suspicious device had tried to access my account over the past few days. I urge you - if you ever get this notice, please check it out and track down the offending device if it's yours. 
• Unfortunately, this process will require me to remember where I was at that time. I do not, by any means, live in a drunken stupor that causes me to suspect I've been places I do not remember... I just have the recall of a pregnant gnat (as well the attention span of an infant, on good days)..

I don't want to say the sex was loud, but afterwards, the neighbors gathered outside...

(X)Ubuntu 17.04 Review

It works.*




























*STANDARD DISCLAIMER
I always hear about this or that Great Visual Improvement and Experience. I really don't care.  My 'experience' is so customized, I don't notice 'improvements'.

Having said that, it took about 20 minutes to upgrade, much like the original install. It was flawless. The only way I knew it was different was that a taskbar had a slightly different font. There's a new wallpaper (YIPPIE!). Of course, I might not be the one to judge - look at this damn blog.

It works. Might even be faster. Seamless.
I love Xubuntu.

Nod if You're Asleep

The Wichita State University student government refused to recognize a libertarian student group because of their First Amendment advocacy. Let me repeat this in a typed squeaky voice: the student government won't recognize a group because it believes in free speech, as specified in the Constitution. Them words is hurtful.

• This just in, from a doctoral candidate: "Science is historically and inextricably linked to European colonialism and white (male) supremacy." Yes, this fellow may get a PhD for saying science is a white male construct. Let's gather our torches and head out to the stoning!

The local Fox morning show is doing a segment on Mommy Guilt, when going on vacation without your infant. "You came this close to not going."

Wow. The guilt and shame. Because our moms actually stayed home after they gave birth.  The lady was nursing. Just to make things more ridiculous, they had a 'professional' on, explaining why this was a good idea. 

• United Airlines had yet another public relations nightmare the other day, when they overbooked and had to ask for a volunteer to give up a seat. No one volunteered and they literally dragged a passenger out of his seat, bloody from hitting his head on an armrest. United also destroyed a guitar in its case and got famous for turning down a woman for wearing leggings. To be fair, the Leggings Lady was flying on what's called a buddy pass, and is subject to a dress code, in which leggings don't exist. 
• United's PR department is either working overtime, of which there is absolutely no evidence, or exists as some sort of bizarre performance art (more likely). I know people at United. They're visiting doctors from injuries sustained in massive, repeated head-shaking incidents.
• Social Media is delivering a scathing response to this, one in the form of New United Slogans. Here are mine:
• Fly United - Get Carried Away
• Fly the Extremely Unfriendly Skies
• Get up, stand up. Don't put up a fight
• You Should Probably Do What You're Told
• New United fare bonus: 10% off to anywhere if you promise not to take video of anything that might happen
• I would personally like to thank United for this endless bounty

I was just advised that Stations of the Cross is NOT HBO and Discovery

• There is some research (abstract available, pay to download) suggesting that atheists/agnostics are more likely to believe in extraterrestrial intelligence. Interestingly enough, the pope is not a religious man.

If you use Adobe Flash and/or Acrobat, be sure to update or allow the update. It fixes 56 critical issues. On Windows, I replace Acrobat with the free ....

I noticed that after a certain age, I started to have trouble with objects of a sentence. I'd think to myself, "Gee, Self, you should talk about that software called Zanzibar. Ok, cool. Readers, you need to use this software... it's called ... ummm..." SHIT. It was just in my head. What the hell happened to it? It begins with a Z and I can see the opening screen in my head. ($&U#@

• Marshall the cocker is home after his ear surgery. We're so happy to have him back, along with Even More Medicine to give him.  This operation must be really painful, as he's crying a lot.... this absolutely kills us. We're keeping him stuffed with pain pills and hoping for the best.
• He came back with the Cone of Shame, which is a large lampshade-looking plastic thing that fits over his head so he doesn't chew or wreck the stitches or surgery area. Sadly, it looks funny. The real problem, aside from him banging into everything, is that feeding him is a geometric nightmare. His natural response is to pull up and away from the food when you present it. Everything needs to be at just the right angle for him to eat it. This is less of a problem with solid things like meatballs. He's very good with meatballs, in which we hide his meds. He has, however, sworn off dog food. Giving him a drink is even more difficult. He cannot simply use his normal bowls.

The need to give Marshall meds also means the wife sitting up with him a lot. Last night must've been something, as I slept alone.  When I got up, due to a lively wife plopping herself onto the bed and explaining things to an inert me that didn't need to be explained while I was sleeping, there appeared a breakfast pastry. I don't remember eating these, as they're absolute junk, but I was assured by a junior member inside that I used to eat them all the time. Ok then.

Thirsty after the iced cinnamon roll, I went to the fridge, which had become stocked with watered-down lemonade and chocolate milk from the convenience store. Opening the freezer, I beheld three Ben and Jerry's bizarrely-flavored ice creams, one without a lid.

Yes, this is what happens when the internal children go shopping at some weird hour of the morning.  It's a good thing heavy machinery rental places are not open overnight, as there would be a Caterpillar on the front lawn. With a Barbie flag attached to it.

UPDATE: some of that ice cream is delicious, especially for breakfast, to wash down that frosted pastry. We all tested them in detail, to make sure none of them was bad or poisonous.

Know what's really, truly sad? When a frosted treat's frosting sticks to the wrapping. It's 2017, people... can't Modern Science<tm> do something about this?

• Just when I think the US has gone completely mad, the UK steps in, having gone madder. The fun starts over a clothing ad, featuring a skinny model. This prompts a complaint. The complaint goes to an advertising watchdog. The advertising watchdog reviews, then clears the ad. Not that we don't have all sorts of groups with agendas, but...

Basil Fawlty - Fawlty Towers

I'm Gagging I'm Gagging I'm Gagging for You

Let's start with Internet of Things right out of the gate!
A guy buys a remote control garage opener. Unfortunately he has a brain aneurysm and gets an IoT garage opener. He isn't satisfied with it and gives it a bad review on the net. The head of the opener company bricks his account, so now the garage door does not open.

PRO TIP: avoid IoT toilets.

• Our good friends at Microsoft have finally released what information Windows 10 collects from you and will allow more specific choices. Not mentioned are the back doors and NSA access.

A Kanye West album has gone platinum.

Why?

• Some enterprising soul has put up a GoFundMe page to help purchase a $15,000 engagement ring for his girlfriend. I suppose I need to recategorize my charitable giving from cancer patients to this poor soul, who can't afford a house-size rock.

Here's an informed view on ISP data privacy from the head of the FCC. Notable is that the Mainstream Media Washington Post did not use this as an excuse to skewer Trump.

• I made it just a few items before returning to the Internet of Things, plus this is a whopper!  The particular device in question is the Siime Eye Sex Toy. For the sake of science, it's a vibrator with a camera, so you can share whatever you like with whomever you like (tactful, no?). You transmit the video over wifi, of course. Here's where the fun starts: if someone happens to be near your home, they can intercept the wifi signal. The credentials are hard-coded (admin, password=blank); this is horrible.  Hijacked feeds are already showing up online (no, I don't have the urls). Once someone hacks in, they have full access and the ability to own the device. The organization that did the penetration testing reached out to the manufacturer three times, starting in December 2016, with no response. Buy one and share your parts with the whole world!

Break out the party hats and squeaky devices - we bombed Syria!  It's been so sad lately for arms manufacturers and now it's Christmastime! We wouldn't want Grumman to go away hungry, would we? Fire up the bombs, ship the bombers, open up the long-range video so everyone can watch the 'targeted' bombs drop - Let's Roll! 

The president who campaigned on America First has bombed another country, in the fine tradition of other recent presidents.  President Trump, we're very disappointed in you, after we specifically stated we didn't vote for you but we were going to wait and see, giving you a chance to walk the walk. Instead you used National Security to bomb a country that allegedly poison gassed its own citizens. Aren't there other countries, perhaps closer and more affected, who could lead this nightmare? Exactly what part of our national security does Syria affect?

• Now that we've gotten the IoT sex toy dealt with, some person is locating insecure IoT devices from the internet and disabling them. The problem here, if there is one, is do we qualify this person as a vigilante, do-gooder, terrorist, or used car salesman? This software is called BrickerBot, because it bricks the device (renders is as functional as a brick). As amusing and ironic as this is, it's not really going to be helpful: while your device will no longer spy on you, it also won't work.

They say everything's bigger in Texas, including the hacks. Someone got access to the emergency alarm sirens in Dallas. Do you have any idea what 156 emergency alarms sound like for 90 minutes? Apparently Dallas does. 

This is just emergency sirens. Let me throw a few words at you and you can think on them: electrical grid, train signals/controls, utility plants...

• PANIC: by the time you read this, extended support for Windows Vista will have ended.

The United Airlines Public Relations Machine is in high gear. Again.

They overbooked a flight. This is legal and industry practice (our first question). They needed volunteers to give up their seats before the plane could take off. Oops, no volunteer. Oops, someone got volunteered. Apparently he didn't want to go, resulting in Security dragging him off the plane, with a nice bruise from his head hitting the arm rest. The man was identified as a doctor, headed home to work. As one would expect, many videos were taken by passengers. "United apologizes for overbooking."

• Marshall's progress: today we took him for surgery. The price was outrageous and they wanted it up front or there would be no surgery. The pet credit cards were virtually worthless. At least we'll eat until I get paid again and at least Marshall will be ok. That's an order.
• The financial considerations were conducted right out in the open.
• This is for one ear. A second surgery may be required.
• Two previous ultrasounds were unviewable by the surgeon, requiring a third.
• The #*@&ing original vet cost us an unbelievable amount and prolonged this issue. The second vet, same practice, sent us directly for surgery. We were played because we're not veterinarians. A few pounds of flesh are in order.
• Marshall will need to stay overnight, due to the seriousness of the surgery. Poor guy.
• Please think good thoughts for him.

It's Thursday and You Know What That Means

it means that it's probably Monday and I just picked a random day to put in the title.


My boobies lie over the ocean
My boobies lie over the sea
My boobies lie over the ocean
Bring back my boobies to me

And thus ends the Culture portion of today's blog.

• Researchers made public an issue with a version of Microsoft Web Server, complete with their small proof of concept (how-to). The flaw has been exploited since July or August 2016 but there's no real issue, because the version of Internet Information Services (6.0) belongs to a version of Windows Server (2003) that has passed its end of support date of July 2015. No problem, right? Problem.
• We all know I can't stand Microsoft and welcome any opportunity to take a shot at them. Guess what.... I stand firmly behind them (I probably should have told you to sit down before reading that.. sorry).
• Microsoft is pretty good about supporting their software, stating exactly when end of life is. Microsoft stated that Windows Server 2003's end of life was July 2015 and stated this a long time before 2015. As a result, there was not and will not be a patch available for this.  A vulnerability search engine estimates over 600,000 instances of Server 2003 still running on the internet, of which approximately ten percent are vulnerable.
• Why did this happen? Because of idiots. Yes, the world is full of them, but these particular idiots are downright dangerous. It could be laziness, it could be fright, it could be resources (linux is free, people, and the internet runs on it), it could be that people don't care. Worse still, it could be a situation where an IT department is screaming for an upgrade and another department won't allow it because their crappy software won't work on the updated version of Windows Server.
• End of life was not a surprise. The date is for making certain you have the upgrade in place; not the date to COMMENCE PANIC! These are the people who are still running Windows XP on their desktop computers.

This is so mind-bogglingly stupid that I can't figure out whether it's a hoax or not. Search engine results come up negative but this person is a designer who does leggings. Have the feminists finally gone over the wall? Is this is definition of the internet phrase "I can't even"?

I mentioned that Congress is headed toward allowing ISPs to collect your personal data and sell it to others. Here's a very interesting article on how Minnesota is trying to counter this on the state level. It applies to any state and gives some history of how the Federal government has overridden it during Obama.

• I think they're messing with the speed limit signs around here (yes, lefty, put on the tinfoil hat again). Hear me out: there's one tiny burg where the speed limit is 25, and I was warned they weren't kidding. Revenue enhancement and strictly enforced. A block later, presumably the next burg, it went to 40. Yay, a reasonable speed! It has been 40 forever. And then last week, it was suddenly 35. Now I can clearly tell the difference between a 40mph sign and a 35mph sign and I haven't slipped into an alternate universe, where it was always 35. More revenue enhancement?  Closer to my neighborhood, we got red light cameras. Within the next week, I expect new traffic lights, moved traffic lights, changed speed limits, and an even larger UFO hovering over work.

Marshall's ear surgery has been scheduled. Depending on how they proceed, it can run between $3k and $5.5k.  And we'll gladly pay because he's our dog, you know?  It turns out there are programs to help you pay, similar to credit cards.