Thank you all for the heart warming comments, both on the site and in my mail. Your support is much appreciated.

Status update: still critical, but with careful optimism. Current prediction is that his state will remain critical over the weekend, but his situation is improving (but very slowly).

Below I’ll post some entries in the style and atmosphere you are used to on this site – and I thank some of you for sending some of them to me, as I clearly don’t have much time to find the good stuff myself these days…

[Quote:]

A brace of new Internet Explorer vulnerabilities have been disclosed on a security mailing list.

The most serious of the two flaws, which has been accompanied by the publication of proof of concept exploit code, involves HTA applications and creates a means to trick users into executing malign code providing users can be tricked into double clicking on an icon.

Workarounds against the flaw involve disabling active scripting.

The second security bug involves processing of the object.documentElement.outerHTML property. This vulnerability creates a means for hackers to retrieve information from sites a potential mark is logged into, such as a webmail page, in order to swipe user credentials.

Microsoft is investigating both flaws. The SANS Institute says it’s yet to hear of the active exploitation of either vulnerability by hackers.

[Quote:]

They were government officials, telephone company honchos, military officers, three-letter-agency spooks and cops, all brought together by salesmen dealing in the modern equipment of surveillance. It was my job to learn what they were up to.

They’d gathered for the ISS World Conference, a trade show featuring the latest in mass communications intercept gear, held in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Crystal City, Virginia. Situated conveniently between Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon, Crystal City is an artificial place dominated by conference centers and hotels, set up to accommodate the endless, and often secret, intercourse between the U.S. military and its myriad itinerant contractors, lobbyists, consultants and trainers. They rotate in and out, civilians using the airport, military personnel taking the subway from the Pentagon, with Crystal City as the intersection in a figure-eight circuit of constant activity.

Back in the narrow hotel corridor, vendors manned their booths, exhibiting the latest gadgets for mass electronic surveillance: machines capable of scouring the data streams of millions of subscribers — industrial-strength kits for packet interception and analysis, RF interception, and voice and keyword recognition.

[..]

“I’m not much concerned about wiretaps in America and Europe,” I’d been saying to one of the Pen-Link engineers, “but I wonder if it bothers you to consider what this technology can do in the hands of repressive governments with no judicial oversight, no independent legislature.”

Our man interrupted. “You need to educate yourself,” he said with a sneer. “I mean, that’s a classic journalist’s question, but why are you hassling these guys? They’re engineers. They make a product. They don’t sell it. What the hell is it to them what anyone does with it?”

“Well, it’s quite an issue,” I said. “This is the equipment of totalitarianism, and the only things that can keep a population safe are decent law and proper oversight. I want to know what they think when they learn that China, or Syria, or Zimbabwe is getting their hands on it.”

“You really need to educate yourself,” he insisted. “Do you think this stuff doesn’t happen in the West? Let me tell you something. I sell this equipment all over the world, especially in the Middle East. I deal with buyers from Qatar, and I get more concern about proper legal procedure from them than I get in the USA.”

“Well, perhaps the Qataris are conscientious,” I said, “and I’m prepared to take your word on that, but there are seriously oppressive governments out there itching to get hold of this stuff.”

He sneered again. “Do you think for a minute that Bush would let legal issues stop him from doing surveillance? He’s got to prevent a terrorist attack that everyone knows is coming. He’ll do absolutely anything he thinks is going to work. And so would you. So why are you bothering these guys?”

“It’s a valid question,” I insisted. “This is powerful stuff. In the wrong hands, it could ruin political opponents; it could make the state’s power impossible to challenge. The state would know basically everything. People would be getting rounded up for thought crimes.”

“You’re not listening,” he said. “The NSA is using this stuff. The DEA, the Secret Service, the CIA. Are you kidding me? They don’t answer to you. They do whatever the hell they want with it. Are you really that naïve? Now leave these guys alone; they make a product, that’s all. It’s nothing to them what happens afterward. You really need to educate yourself.”

[..]

The best conversation I had was with Robert van Bosbeek of the Dutch National Police. I asked him if he was tempted to buy anything.

“Not really,” he said with a laugh. “But it’s always good to see what’s on offer. Basically, we’re three or four years ahead of all this.”

He said that in the Netherlands, communications intercept capabilities are advanced and well established, and yet, in practice, less problematic than in many other countries. “Our legal system is more transparent,” he said, “so we can do what we need to do without controversy. Transparency makes law enforcement easier, not more difficult.”

I know I should probably say something about the major political news that happened in the Netherlands while I was in the hospital, but right now I don’t really care very much… feel free to talk about it amongst yourselves in the comments…

Update: details

I just got back from the hospital. My dad had emergency surgery – an aneurism, meaning one of his main arteries sprung a leak. The operation was a technical success, but he’s in intensive care right now, and will be in critical condition the next couple of days – it all depends on his heart, his strength, possible infections, and numerous other things..

I’m sure he’ll pull through, but it’ll be scary for a few days…

[Quote:]

Given the fact that you’re reading this publication, it’s safe to assume that you are, at a minimum, a fairly savvy computer user. Things like ctrl-alt-deleting, printer installation, and email attachments — considered by most as a form of fancy-schmancy wizardry — come as second nature to you. Computers don’t own you, you own them.

Now consider, as the savvy computer user you are, how you might react if you received the following dialog, as Y. Goldberg did, while logging in to your workplace computer in the morning. Just how long would wait before you were 100% confident that the update script pushed by IT the night before was really finished and that the dialog (which prevented any computer usage) was not automatically closed as a result of a bug in the script?

Now try to imagine just how long the average computer user would wait before believing that something went wrong. Add to that the average help desk technician who knows nothing about the update script and instructs the average user (calling, on average, an hour later) to just wait it out. Add to that the time it takes for the help desk to finally contact IT and the time it takes for them to confirm that the script, indeed, has a bug and requires that the user click OK. And finally, add to that the challenge of communicating the message of “just click OK” to all users across the organization *without* the use of email.

Now I have no idea what this all adds up to in lost productivity, but I’m pretty sure it’s right around $64,000.

[Quote:]

A Frenchman made a 686-kilometre (426-mile) round-trip from Paris to London and then back again purely to place a 10,000-euro (6,900-pound, 12,600-dollar) bet on Brazil to win the World Cup, bookmaker William Hill has said.

The mystery punter is said to have been “hopping up and down” outside the chain’s branch at Waterloo station, where Eurostar trains linking London and Paris start and terminate, waiting for staff to open up.

He then handed over a stash of Euros before rushing off to catch the train back to France, leaving the manager to chase him with the betting slip.

“The man was clearly in a hurry to catch the train back. He told us that he would be back on July 10 (when the World Cup final is held) to collect the winnings,” said William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams Tuesday.

“We didn’t have the heart to tell him that he could have placed the bet on either the telephone or on the Internet.”

[Quote:]

Looking back from the 22nd century, future historians will marvel at the current era’s obsession with extending intellectual property rights well past any reasonable limit. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s determination to grant a patent to even the most absurd claims that cross its desk. Four years ago a patent attorney in Minnesota named Peter Olson demonstrated this by submitting the following patent in the name of his five year-old son, Steven. The patent was granted. Read it and weep.

[Quote:]

*SA

Irving Penn

Hi Irv, I don’t know what you were thinking here dude! You got a pretty model (altho kind of old), but you have caught her with her eyes cloes in a not very good pose. Biggest problem is YOU NEED CROP to a vertical!!!!! Backdrop is too small and there is not enough of a sweep so you can see the crease. If you send me a file I can fix it in Photoshop and I can give you my suggested crop. If you don’t care aboout your PROFESSIONALISM you are never going to get work as a pro believe me!!! Hope I am not being too harsh. Oh well best regards anyway, M.H.

Sam Abell

Sam, GORGEOUS scene I luv it! Too bad u couldn’t get a little more color in sky area. Blues should be a little more saturated. Also the rule is u need to have either sky or land (lake?) dominate, not just split right down the middle. Try to move the camera after u focus. A great shot though please see my entries and leave your comments. Ted.

Garry Winogrand

Hi Garry. You caught some nice poses here. Biggest problem is I can tell the horizon isn’t straight. It doesn’t look like a hill. Man at right needs to be cropped out. Sometimes I find if I shout right before I take the picture I can get people’s attentions. If you had done so we would have been able to see more of their faces. George MacWilken.

Bill Brandt

Bill, your problem here is the shadow detail. Some lenses give more shadow detail & contrast than others. The Leica lenses are best for this. There are several types, the Elmarit, Summicron, and Summilux that I know of. I don’t know which type has the highest shadow detail but I will ask and I’m sure you will get some answers. Need to see both eyes to get a sense of depth. What lens did you use for this pic? Also highlight detail seems lacking, esp. the arm. Adrian from NSW

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Bonjour Henri, assuming you are French, or at least understand it. This is a great capture, I love the composition and the dog. We had a dog that looked kind of like that one once. Your problem here is that your AF has focused on the wrong place—the man is actually kind of soft! The camera has mistakenly focused on the people in the doorway, creating a distracting softness in the man. Usually it is best to focus on the closest object and most times the camera will choose the closest large object to focus on, but unfortunately not here. But it is still an amazing capture. Cordially, Edwin

Keith Carter

Keith: Nice Try Focus is on Wrong End of horse obviously!! The square is hard to compose in, dont fell too bad. Sometimes we Fotographers have to take what we get. Bob

William Eggleston

This is just a snapshot. I would not even have considered showing this. If you ware going to post pictures you need to make sure it is of something unusual or with a personal vision. Otherwise you are going to loose the interest of your audience. George Spelvin [Nikon D200, Nikon D70s backup, 17-35 f/2.8, 80-200 f/2.8, 4GB Microdrive (2), Photoshop CS, Epson 2200]

Ralph Gibson

Ralph, this is a nice idea and I think you had a nice idea. But the shadow is very distractin, you should have taken one step to the left. If that had let in more distracting background then I think you could have stepped one step closer. Great try, better luck next time. —pitcherman

Edward Steichen

Much too dark exposure and not sharp. I suppose you may say that you tried to make it unsharp but what the hell’s the point in that. I like things sharp. Maybe you should study some other peoples’ photographs here on this forum and get an idea of what a good photograph should look like. **

Alex Webb

Hi Alex, I don’t really see a clear composition to this photograph and your shadow detail’s are all lost you need to get a camera with a bigger dynamic range perhaps you could try Fuji S3 I here it has biggest dynamic range of all but uoi need to know how to use it. Fill flash would have helped also. Only two thumbs up But I like some of your other work please vote for mine too al

Posted by: MIKE JOHNSTON

*satire alert.
**thanks to Andy Frazer for this one.

The author in a later post:
[Quote:]

I suppose my post below, “Great Photographers on the Internet,” making fun of common types of internet critiques of pictures, might be a bit wicked. (I was bored this morning.) I know most people who are writing critiques on internet picture-posting sites are doing so sincerely and with good intentions. Still, I’ve spent enough time on such sites (please don’t assume I’m talking about just one, or any particular one—there are a number of them) that the comments are really starting to drive me, well, nuts.

[Quote:]

“Do you want to know how to eliminate terrorism? I’ll tell you. In fact, I’ll tell you about something that no one else knows. Something that has never been written about. You will be amazed, but it is true. Listen.”

The speaker knew what he was talking about. Just a few years before, he had been a terrorist—a senior commander of al-Fatah, the largest constituent element of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the group that was founded, in 1959, and has been led ever since by Yasir Arafat, the chairman of the PLO. The speaker was now a brigadier general in one of the Palestine Authority’s myriad security and intelligence services. He was an Arafat loyalist: his fidelity as much as his competence led to his appointment to this critically important post. We spoke when an uneasy peace still reigned between Israel and the Palestinians, and in fact there was a degree of cooperation between the Israeli intelligence and security agencies and their Palestinian counterparts, which was superintended by the CIA.

[Quote:]

Color blindness is expressed a person being unable to perceive the full spectrum of colors the way the average human can. Colorblindness itself can be caused by just about any problem with a component of the visual system. I think most types are caused by a person’s ganglion cells (the interface between the retina and the optic nerve) not being able to fully distinguish between two colors. Each ganglion cell is designed to be sensitive between two color poles, so if it can’t tell one end of it’s sensitivity spectrum from the other, a person looses the ability to distinguish that color. The afliction(?) isn’t necessarily genetically based, as sometimes trauma can induce colorblindness.

This test is designed to be a kind of ‘anti’ colorblindness test – i.e. it’s one that colorblind people will be able to pass, while normal vision will fail. This experiment came up after a conversation with a good friend of mine – we were wondering if there were images that colorblind people could perceive that normal vision could not. Not sure either? Take the test.

[Quote:]

Over the past few months Henry Porter has written a series of articles in The Observer criticising what he sees as a sustained government assault on fundamental freedoms. He attacked a range of measures, including legislation on identity cards, new police powers and anti-terror laws. Porter’s critique has generated a huge response from the public – and now from the Prime Minister. Here, in this extraordinary email exchange, Tony Blair rejects the criticism – and announces plans to go further

Read the exchange – and no matter how much you agree or disagree with Blair or Porter, and even if the messages were written by aides, it’s an impressively open and considered exchange for a politician. Compared with other leaders….

[Quote:]

We all know the scene: the departmental coffee room, with the price list for tea and coffee on the wall and the “honesty box�? where you pay for your drinks – or not, because no one is watching.

In a finding that will have office managers everywhere scurrying for the photocopier, researchers have discovered that merely a picture of watching eyes nearly trebled the amount of money put in the box.

[Quote:]

Het telecombedrijf KPN daagt de Nederlandse staat voor de rechter omdat het zich ongelijk behandeld voelt ten opzichte van kabelbedrijven. Topman Scheepbouwer zei in een interview met het Financieele Dagblad van donderdag dat het niet eerlijk is dat bedrijven als Casema, Essent en UPC telefonie, kabel en internetdiensten mogen aanbieden terwijl KPN zich geconfronteerd ziet met allerlei concurrentiebeperkingen.

KPN stelt dat het tienduizenden klanten verliest door al die maatregelen. “Iedereen hoort ons begripvol aan”, aldus Scheepbouwer. “Maar niemand voelt zich geroepen om iets te doen. Het is mooi geweest.” De rechtszaak, een kort geding, dient op 11 juli in Den Haag.

Eindelijk!

[Quote:]

D66 eist dat minister Rita Verdonk (Vreemdelingenzaken) opstapt, anders blaast de kleinste regeringsfractie het kabinet op. Fractievoorzitter Lousewies van der Laan zei dat donderdagochtend na afloop van een marathondebat over de naturalisatie van Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Voor coalitiegenoot VVD is het aftreden van partijgenoot Verdonk echter “volstrekt onacceptabel”. “Samen uit samen thuis”, aldus fractieleider Willibrord van Beek na het debat. Ook voor CDA-fractieleider Maxime Verhagen is het aftreden van Verdonk “onbestaanbaar”.

Volgens Van der Laan is D66 niet uit op de val van het kabinet, maar kan Verdonk niet langer aanblijven na haar “vertoning” in de Hirsi Ali-kwestie. D66 stemde dan ook voor een motie van afkeuring van GroenLinks tegen Verdonk. Die motie kreeg ook steun van PvdA, SP en ChristenUnie, maar verwierf geen meerderheid. Uiteindelijk stemde 64 Kamerleden voor en 79 tegen.

Een mens mag hopen, maar ik vermoed dat ze zich hier vanmiddag wel weer uit zal draaien.

[Quote:]

Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has come up with an ingenious and slightly horrifying way to cram ever more of their clients’ products into your face hole—a door flier that makes it look like you’ve got unexpected pizza! Then, confused, you open the door and… BAM! The old fork in the eye.

Remember, if they open the door, it’s not breaking and entering, it’s just entering.

[Quote:]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — NEW YORK – June 28, 2006 — Pfizer Inc. today announced conservative talk radio commentator Rush Limbaugh has been signed as the new spokesman for the company’s erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra (sildenafil citrate). Limbaugh went public with his use of the medication following a security incident June 26 at the Palm Beach International Airport. Limbaugh has long been a known supporter of the pharmaceutical industry. “We feel very fortunate to have Rush on board,” said a Pfizer spokesperson. “I don’t know why Purdue didn’t snatch him up years ago.” Purdue Pharmaceuticals manufactures the painkiller OxyContin. For his part, Limbaugh says he looks forward to the partnership as an opportunity to represent the Hard Right with unflagging firmness. “I know there are those who have accused me of being inflexible in my views,” he commented. “All I can say is, they have no idea how rigid I can be, thanks to this little blue bill.” Limbaugh went on to extol the drug’s efficacy. “I think everyone’s aware of how I feel about Hillary. Now, I’m not saying I would ever go there, but let’s say I’d be ready for the job. Give me an intern and I’d run circles around Bill Clinton.” The radio show host reassured fans that his new role as Viagra spokesman won’t cut into his on-air duties. “I’ll continue to expose limp Liberal fallacies on all fronts,” he said. Pfizer is hoping the Limbaugh “dittohead” following will give a boost to sales. “His listeners will buy into anything he says, so we’re hoping that transfers into them buying our product. With a doctor’s prescription, of course.” Previous Viagra spokesmen have included Senator Bob Dole and NASCAR driver Mark Martin. The addition of the controversial radio personality to the Pfizer stable seems to indicate the drug manufacturer intends to target an increasingly conservative demographic. However, Pfizer’s representative denied reports that ultra-right-wing commentator and author Ann Coulter was also being wooed to push the erection-enhancing medication. “We feel that would be antithetical. As clinically effective as Viagra has proven to be, it has its limits.”

[Quote:]

Almost every piece of personal information that Americans try to keep secret — including bank account statements, e-mail messages and telephone records — is semi-public and available for sale.

That was the lesson Congress learned over the last week during a series of hearings aimed at exposing peddlers of personal data, from whom banks, car dealers, jealous lovers and even some law enforcement officers have covertly purchased information to use as they wish.

[..]

The committee subpoenaed representatives from 11 companies that use the Internet and phone calls to obtain, market, and sell personal data, but they refused to talk.

All invoked their constitutional right to not incriminate themselves when asked whether they sold “personal, non-public information” that had been obtained by lying or impersonating someone.

[Quote:]

Things add up differently for native English speakers, compared with people who learned Chinese as a first language.

Simple arithmetic was easily done by both groups, but they used different parts of the brain, a new study shows.

Researchers used brain imaging to see which parts of the brain were active while people did simple addition problems, such as 3 plus 4 equals 7. All participants were working with Arabic numerals, which are used in both cultures.

via

Click here for the rest of this series…

[Quote:]

On 9 May the Bulgarian publishing house ‘Trud’, owned by the German media group Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, sent a letter threatening with a lawsuit a Bulgarian specialized web library for blind people – bezmonitor.com (its name means ‘without a monitor’). The publishing house claims that they own the copyrights for certain classical Bulgarian books and translations of foreign-language ones, which appear on the website, in ASCII format, which is good for reading by the audio programs used by people who cannot see. The website is non-commercial; its creator, Victor Kirilov, who is also blind, is supporting it on his own. Although he removed the texts in question in the same day, he mentioned this case to his friend Grigor Gatchev, who is recognized translator, an author and well-known blogger.

On 14 May Grigor wrote about the story in details in his personal blog, and hundreds of people express their outrage towards the immoral behavior of the publishing house. The news quickly spread in Internet, reaching over 50 websites and around 90 forums, and hundreds of e-mails were sent to the office of the publishing house, demanding explanation of this behavior.

In addition to being immoral, this action of “Trud�? appeared also to be illegal. The Bulgarian Law for Copyright and related rights states:
Art. 24 (1) Without the agreement of the owner of the copyright is permitted:
…
10. Distribution of already published texts through Braille writing or a similar alternative method, if this is not done for profit.
(All texts on bezmonitor.com are in pure ASCII, and almost only blind people visit it, so, it falls under the category “similar to Braille�?.)

Bulgarian citizens as well as organizations of the blind people, such as Association ‘Eyesight’ and the National Library for the Blind ‘Louis Braille’ informed all Bulgarian media on the behavior of publishing house ‘Trud’, which itself owns a few major daily newspapers. ‘Trud’ tried to prevent the story from becoming public, as the owner of the publishing house is also a director of the Union of the Bulgarian Publishers. Most major BG media outlets kept silent. However, fewer small independent newspapers voiced people’s outrage.

After removing the texts, Victor asked the publishing house for documents stating that they really hold the copyrights in mention – after all, anyone could say in e-mail anything. “Trud�? refused to supply him any documents, and instead wrote a complaint to the Bulgarian Service for Combating the Organized Crime (despite that all texts in mention were taken down). The department, although a state institution, has reputation for serving corporate interests and having made illegal arrests on previous cases. A phone call from the department to the blind programmer of the website, Victor, makes him remove all texts under the fear of arrest, which although completely illegal and immoral, would put Victor’s health in danger.

Later, Victor was summoned to the office of BSCOC and presented to sign a document in sense that he would be responsible for all violation of copyrights that may involve his site, and that this is a criminal offense that will lead to years of imprisonment. He was explained that, after this warning, the copyright holders don’t have to resolve the matter with him first, and may directly trial him – and that even a sole pretension on violation would result for him in being arrested (possibly for years, since these trials take a long), and his PC confiscated. Which, to a blind man with a frail health, is a clear attempt for intimidation. Victor was refused any access to the complaint being filed against him, or to the documents the publishing house is said to have attached to the complaint to prove their right. He was refused even to have a copy of the document he signed.

At this meeting, however, it turned out that not only his site is being harassed – all Bulgarian online electronic libraries are targeted by the complaints to BSCOC, despite that some of them never had any copyrighted texts. At a talk with the “Trud�? CEO, Nikola Kitzevsky, Victor learned that “Trud�? now makes a commercial (paid) online electronic library, and is determined to make it the only electronic library in Bulgaria. Which sheds some light over what is really happening.

The authors whose texts are in question are pillars of the Bulgarian literature. In their stories they fight injustice and defend the poor and disadvantaged people. Now a corporation, many years after authors’ death, is attempting to prevent access to those stories for those very same people…

It is sad that the publishing house ‘Trud’ completely misses the point that one blind person has made the utmost effort to provide access for sightless people to literature and this is an act only to be admired and supported. People of Bulgaria, however, are determined to win this battle.

[Quote:]

Amnesty International’s campaign. Cut-outs hidden in public lockers.

[Quote:]

The consensus seems to be it’s dangerous to report them. What a sad world this is…