Sanity… is for the Weak

So, the PC at home died. Time to go shopping again….

*sigh*

Remember the X-Wing scaled-model rocket I wrote about last week?

Oh well.

Good lord. Some people just have too much time on their hands (that, or a passion that burns hotter and brighter than mine!)

These guys built a scaled model of a Starwars X-Wing fighter…. powered by rocket motors you find at rocketry clubs.

Built completely of wood, with aluminum rods for wing supports. It will be launched with four rockets, and will deploy three parachutes for recovery.

The launch will be next week, on 10 Oct.

May the Force be with you. And remember, “Use the Targeting Computer. That’s what it’s there for!”

:Links:
+Polecat Aerospace
+Gizmodo

Got more spam, and among them were a few rather nasty pieces of deception:

Subject: ROTFLMAO, who is that your with?
From: ldsfrank@dtrqggi.uwjawb.r.12hs.com
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:46:44 +1200
What are you thinking…if pat sees this your divorced dude. :-{) check it out yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=***********

Rather innocuous, but instead of going to Youtube if you follow the link, you’ll re-directed to a website that installs a back-door trojan virus on your system. Nasty.

Other variations of the re-direct trick as follows:

Subject: Where did you take that?
From: gliqkaa9516900@kakiko.com
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:46:01 -0400
LMAO, I cant believe you put this video online. Everyone can see your face there. LOL check it out yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=***********

Subject: Dude dont send that stuff to my home email…
From: daniellevaillant@hn.vnn.vn
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:41:45 +0100
If your dad see this video you made, he is gonna kill you. here is the link I got http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=***********

Subject: I cant belive you did this
From: ad_aditya@wdrake.p0.com
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:53:00 +0300
If your mom sees this she this video of you she is gonna freak. this is the link to it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=***********

Subject: LOL, dude what are you doing
From: claire@westernenterprises.com
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 06:22:02 -0500
OMG, what are you doing man. This video of you is all over the net. go look at it… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=***********

Subject: where did you hook up with that?
From: sazlina.mamran@global-wise.com.hk
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 23:35:00 -0700
You can see your face right in the video. its all over the web dude. go look at it… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=***********

Subject: LOL, dude what are you doing
From: nombeladeborah@everfel.com
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 09:41:55 +0800
OMG, what are you doing man. This video of you is all over the net. here is the link I got http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=***********

I’ve removed the Youtube links…. just in case.

:Links:
The Shit List
‘Storm’ Trojan horse taps into YouTube fever
YouTube Trojan steals user data

Is there a general offensive (aside from just being generally offensive) by spammers these few days?

Got this in the mail:

To: *******************
Subject: Registration Confirmation
From: “Net-Jokes”
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:17:40 +0200
Dear Member,

Here is your membership info for Net-Jokes.

Confirmation Number: 1261877245
Temp Login ID: user1482
Temorary Password: rp871

Be Secure. Change your Login ID and Password.

Click here to enter our secure server: http://67.160.***.***/ (I’ve edited the link in case somebody clicked it by accident)

Welcome,
New Member Technical Support
Net-Jokes

Now, the thing is, I don’t remember signing up for this website (or about 3 others similar services!). I mean, I’m a funny enough guy, so I don’t really need the help (hah!) so this seemed more than a little suspicious to me. But the second clue would be their server address. If it’s a legit company or website, shouldn’t the website be something more recognisable? I mean, in the business world, you would want to be easily recognisable and remembered, right?

So doing a little rightous digging, I came up with this:

“If a user clicks on the link. The user will see a web page with one line:

“If you do not see the Secure Login Window please install our Secure Login Applet.”

This web page appears to attempt to exploit an older media player (WinAmp) exploit as well as attempting to trick the user into downloading a virus.”

- source: Internet Storm Centre

Now you know.

P.S. I’ve added a new category called “The Shit List”. It’s a list of all the e-mail addresses of idiots who’ve sent me spam, starting with the previous one. I’m putting this online so other spammers can pick it up and start spamming them as well.

:Links:
Internet Storm Centre
The Spam Diaries

The Shit List
rachael.ray@rosa.megahost.pl - Net-Jokes, virus site
ckrqzpmqizj6kfws_p9ikw@mfl.org - Web-Players, virus site
tracy8194@it.uc3m.es - Bar Tenders Guide, virus site
sood.rehman@phalplace.com - Web-Joker, virus site
gcgk@dummyup.com - Dog Lovers, virus site
khalidm44@yahoo.com.hk - Cancer scam
DERUGIN@abalmere.com - stock tip scam

I was bored and so tried to find this blog on google.

w00t!

U.S. launch - 29 June 2007.

It’ll be another year before it arrives on our shores. Damn.

As usual, my dog doesn’t look too impressed.

Must. Resist. Urge. To Laugh. Like. Dr Evil….

*fails*

Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

A Play Station 3.

’nuff said.

Now please excuse me while I spend my 5-day MC from my Wisdom Tooth extraction today on some tech lovin’

*mwahahahahahaha!!!*

Just messing aroung with perspective and focus.

Damn. I would like to have a new camera.

Preferably one of these:

iInLove. iWant.

Available in Asia in 2008.

Crap.

Afro Samurai
The first episode of Afro Samurai just aired a few days ago, and I managed to catch it through some resourceful friends.

Very violent. I like.

karebu: Err… thanks, but who are you???

Looking like something inspired straight from the cult hit anime: 攻殻機動隊 ~ or Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow, comes 2 pieces of technology from Japan. First up is the Thermoptic camouflage used by Major Mokoto Kusanagi, this one simply has to be seen to be believed:

Next is the Tachikomas from the TV series:

The future is now. Gimme my mirrorshades

While we’re still in a dizzy over the whole NYP Sex Scandal issue(NO, I DO NOT HAVE THE CLIP!), I thought this might be worth a look:

People Enjoy Porn More on their Phones, Sez Google

In Google’s recent efforts to take over the world, they are taking on the next step: the mobile phone market. To help their fight for global Googality, research is being done on the type of queries being performed from mobile phones. The numbers are showing that the mobile users are more likely to search for adult content compared to other Googling mediums. A large 20-percent of all Google searches from mobile phones are related to adult content, compared to 8.5-percent from personal computer users and, 5-percent of queries from a PDA. Google explains these numbers by suggesting that the mobile phone is a more personal device compared to the personal computer, but wouldn’t the PDA also be considered a more personal device?

So… perhaps we don’t have to film it, but just Google and download it?

:Links:
Gizmodo
Techdirt

www.guimp.com

This has got to be the world’s smallest website ~ it measures a whopping 18 x 18 pixels!

And you know what the coolest thing is? It’s got games… with colour graphics… and sound… on the same 18 x 18 pixel real estate. I kid you not, go on and try these out:

Pong
Pac Man
Asteroids
Space Invaders
Break Out
Pinball

The list doesn’t stop there, so go on and have a look. Headaches after viewing expected!

Been playing Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and looks like the game now offers more than just gratuitous car-jackings and senseless shooting. An exploit has been found for homebrew apps to be run on firmware 2.XX using the game’s save files. I’m all for independent software development on this wonderful platform, but inevitably, it will just be another way for pirates to pirate the games.

~sigh~

:Links:
PSP Updates
Gizmodo Article:

Free Stuff for the PSP
Movies. Just found this wonderful resource for full-length movies available for download, legally. Granted these are public domain films and thus very old and more than half of them are B-grade or worse, it’s still free!

Better yet, using Bit Torrent to distribute these work will go a long way towards changing the preconception that the Bit Torrent protocol should not to be equated with piracy, as is the case now.

:Link:
Public Domain Torrents

We just caught Chicken Little! An animated feature in great Disney style, but a seemed little short for my tastes. On the technical side, the animation was simply gorgeous, with good attention to detail… right down to the individual feathers on Chicken Little’s head. Impressive!

On a side note, I’ve finished re-watching Excel Saga! This is really funny-ass shit if you love anime, a very self aware series, it spoofs just about every anime produced, from Gundam to Fist of North Star to GTO and many others. I’ve watched this a few years ago, but the subtitling was in Mandrin (not my strongest language) then, now that I’ve gotten my hands on the English subs, I got more of the jokes and gags this time round. Highly recommended!

Now it’s on to Full Metal Alchemist in the DVD player. Woohoo!

Visual:Slave
In the DVD:
+Initial D: 4th Stage
+Full Metal Alchemist
+Excel Saga
+Mai HiME
+Appleseed 2004
+Steamboy
Movies to Catch:
+Chicken Little>
+Sky High
+Initial D: The Movie
+Fantastic 4
+Sin City
+Corpse Bride
+Transporter 2
+Doom
+The Legend of Zorro
+Lord of War
+The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
+V for Vendetta
+Aeon Flux
+Herbie: Fully Loaded Damn. We missed this one.
+Night Watch Looks like we missed this one too.

Christmas Wish List

You’ve gotta love this one: USB Powered Air Darts controlled by the mouse.

Cost: £19.50
Look on your colleague’s face when you launch a salvo over the cubicle: Priceless…
Now, lets see if any morons will try to interrupt me while working! Missiles away!

Woke up early (all thanks to Stanley’s barking, because he needed a walk) and we (we, as in Wifey chucking a tantrum) decided to do some much needed home-improvement:

1) Got the wall on the backyard and frontyard painted.
2) Got the chewed-up door frame painted.
3) Got an electrician to fix the bathroom lights.
4) Scrubbed the toilet (now that we can see that it’s dirty…).
5) Scrubbed the frontyard throughly.
6) Re-arranged the frontyard furniture (looks a lot more spacious now!).
7) Vacumed the shoe cupboard.
8) Re-arranged the shoes in said cupboard.

Oh, and bathed the dogs. Going for dinner at Holland Village later, and to pick up some doggy treats at Pet Lovers Centre as well. See ya!

One more thing:
Remember that Bluetooth-activated cyber-dildo a while ago that you could use for cybersex via SMS? Here’s something to complete the entire exerience with a cuddle after the climax: a Cyber Hug

“Singapore scientists and researchers are putting their time and effort into revolutionizing the way your relatives forward emails. They are using an existing technology to hopefully develop a way to send hugs over the internet.”

Now, if that’s not useful technology, what is?

:link:

Caught Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire yesterday. A very, very fast paced movie, it literally races from chapter to chapter just to get to the showdown between Harry and Voldermort. However, the feeling that we got coming away from the movie was more of a “coming-of-age” movie due to the prom night references and all the teenage angst associated with it.

Now all I have to do is to get my grubby hands on the latest book, and I’ll be set for next year’s show

Visual:Slave
In the DVD:
+Initial D: 4th Stage
+Excel Saga
+Mai HiME
+Appleseed 2004
+Steamboy
Movies to Catch:
+Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
+Sky High
+Initial D: The Movie
+Fantastic 4
+Sin City
+Corpse Bride
+Transporter 2
+Doom
+Lord of War
+The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
+V for Vendetta
+Aeon Flux
+Herbie: Fully Loaded Damn. We missd this one.
+The Legend of Zorro Looks like we missed this one.
+Night Watch Looks like we missed this one too.

Tech Rant
The XBox 360 was launched this week, to great fan fare and not a few incidents of violence. However, I’ll still be betting my money on the Play Station 3. Why? 3 words ~ Metal Gear Solid:

Anyway, if you’re still not convinced, there seems to be problems plaguing the new system with crashes being the most reported. Finally there’s a “10 Reasons to Wait for PS3” by the editors at IGN.

We caught Doom yesterday. Heh.

High on shocks and low on suspense, it felt more like a bad Aliens movie than the video game it was based on. But still, I loved the FPS section towards the end of the movie, and surprise, surprise, wifey remembers it too from her Uni days playing it as well. I’ll give this a 2 out of 5.

Visual:Slave
In the DVD:
+Initial D: 4th Stage
+Mai HiME
+Appleseed 2004
+Steamboy
Movies to Catch:
+Sky High
+Initial D: The Movie
+Fantastic 4
+Sin City
+Corpse Bride
+Transporter 2
+Doom
+The Legend of Zorro
+Lord of War
+The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
+V for Vendetta
+Aeon Flux
+Herbie: Fully Loaded Damn. We missd this one.
+Night Watch Looks like we missed this one too.

And now, some really wierd shit:
Remember the mobile phone attachment that worked as a vibrator, and giving a whole new meaning to the word “Phone Sex”? Well, get ready for the iBuzz, the iPod controlled vibrator. I’m sure the Mac-heads are gonna love this.

:Link:

And these are the toys I want. Heh.

First up, a TASER

Taser X26C stun gun for the rest of us
Just the thing for getting idiotic morons out of my way, this baby delivers 50,000 volts from two tethered darts up to 15-feet away. It includes six dart cartridges and a battery good for 150 shots with the gun. Also included for your $1000 are a holster, paper target with outlined “kill zones,” instructional DVD, and a certificate for free one-on-one training from a certified instructor.

Sweeeeeet.

And of course, if the moron is too stupid to realise that he’s been Tasered, there’s always the Death Ray option:

Handheld Laser Gun available for purchase
This $1750 handheld shooter comes fully assembled, runs on standard AA batteries, and packs enough focused energy to blast a hole in the “hardest of metals.” A set of Alkalines loads about a hundred-fifty 6,000 Watt shots with a 20 to 30 second recharge lag between blasts.

w00t! Gimme!

Selemat Hari Raya Aidilfitri folks, and holiday greetings to all muslim friends out there! Taking this holiday to go out and visit my mom as I haven’t seen her for a while, but first, something of a verbal diarrhea:

I love Sony products and especially their toys, but something’s come up recently to unsettle me.

Sony music CDs apparently install a rootkit on your windows PC with their copy protection, and it looks like the rootkit can be used to hide other bits of malware since it cloaks *all* files with a $sys$ extension, in addition to being generally a memory hog.

Apparently there isn’t any easy way for the regular user to remove the stuff, without causing damage to your system, and the shitty thing is, to get it off your PC, apparently you’re directed to install even more crap.

Wankers. If this won’t turn more people to illegal music downloads, I don’t know what will.

Kiddies, you have been warned.

Other Links:
The Real Danger Of Sony’s Rootkit: It Lets Others Piggyback
Sony Rootkit - Worst.DRM.Ever

It’s Deepavali! The Hindu Festival of Lights, so here’s a very warm holiday greetings to all Hindu friends out there.

This being a public holiday (as well as a rather warm and sunny day, at that), we decided to hit the beach at KM8, Sentosa with the doggies.

This time, it looks like Tess really likes to swim. She was happy to paddle for all she was worth when ever we got into the water, and even followed us to the deeper part of the water. Stanley, on the other hand, didn’t want to go any where near the water, preferring to laze in front of the ladies… the grubby boy!

Note to self #4532 ~ Do not bring Tess swimming on the same day after trimming her nails. They’re sharp and cause (very) deep scratches when she’s paddling, and she’s liable to try to clamber onto you while swimming… *ouch*

And now, a little something for the Aspiring Evil Overlord

For all your secret lair needs, this little underground nuclear shelter Code-named Burlington is now available for a mere £5m. Covering an area of 240 acres and has 60 miles of roads and its own railway station as well as it’s own pub, all 120ft underground.

I want. Gimme!

We already own a Roomba, the robotic vaccum cleaner that will clean the house without supervision. All we need to do is to charge it and off we go to work, and come home to a clean house. Only problem was, we still had to mop the floor… until now

Introducing, the new Scooba, the robotic mop!

Of course, at USD$399 a pop it’s not cheap. But hey, what’s a price to pay for quality of life?

I’ve been messing around with Google Earth recently. And if you haven’t already, download the thing *now*! It’s simply awesome.

Here’s a satellite picture of my place. Impressive technology, isn’t it?

Sadly, while all this high-tech stuff makes the world a truly “Global Village”, it also strips away some of the mystery and practically exposes all for the world to see. How many would-be terrorists can simply use this to plan their bombings by analysing the map and satellite pictures? After all, the military does it pretty much the same way…

BrainCoder: Aww… so sweet. Thank you! I’m much better now.

Woohoo! Been a while since we went out to a movie. Just caught Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, and while it’s a little short at just 1.5 hours, it was just perfect for a weekday movie. Plenty of time to have dinner, watch the movie and be home for a little quality time.

As usual, Tim Burton’s morbid humor shines through in this delightfully quirky animation. And Danny Elfman’s unmistakable musical style comes across as a strong emphasis to the visual imagery, although it sounded a little like an extension to the score on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Visual:Slave
In the PSP:
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
In the DVD:
+Appleseed 2004
+Steamboy
+Initial D: 4th Stage
Movies to Catch:
+Initial D: The Movie
+Fantastic 4
+Sin City
+Corpse Bride
+Night Watch
+The Legend of Zorro
+Lord of War
+Herbie: Fully Loaded Damn. We missd this one.
+The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
+Transporter 2
+Doom
+V for Vendetta
+Aeon Flux

Speaking of spending quality time… we bought an Osim iSqueeze

The thing is certainly powerful! While wifey was using it last night, I could feel the entire bedroom floor vibrating…

It’s not cheap, at $588 a pop, but they take interest free installments with the credit card. So it’s goning to be $49.00 every month for the next 12 months.

Oh well. … At least we *BOTH* get to use it.

Heh.

And here’s the picture of the new handphone. The Motorola V3.

Functionality-wise it a little different from what I’m used to (I’ve been using Nokias pretty much all the way), but the design and interface is quite well-thought out and it’s quite sexy. Heck, at least the software is stable, unlike the made-in-Singapore crap I’ve been force to carry for the last few months. Arrrrgh.

w00t!

Now this, is downright useful… it may not impress hardened tech junkies, but to the average joe on the street, this may be a (geek)god-send. Some examples:

The list goes on… so take a look!

:Link:

And now, how *NOT* to start a Flash Mob
Charlotte’s asking for an anti-fundie meme, tomorrow at 10:30am, Outside Eng Wah Cinemas / The Rock @ Suntec City. Now, all you have to do is to bring along a book that promotes… well, “independent” thought.

Not that I have anything against religion per se, but I’ve always held religion to be something of a mental “crutch” for those who cannot face reality by their lonesome. The universe is a cruel, cruel place, Children, and the earlier you realise that you’re all alone out there and there’s no one else to help you, the faster you can start helping yourself.

But it must be said that ever since we passed the Millennium, and the Judgement Day did not come as promised, it seems that there are lesser morons *TRUE BELIVERS* out there on the streets preaching and trying to get you to join their church. Used to be I couldn’t walk five steps in Orchard Rd without being accosted by someone trying to “Save My Soul”.

Funny thing is, when I try to put my version across they just clam up and walk away… why is it that people who want to share their religious views, usually don’t want to share yours?

I kinda did a double-take on seeing this article. Processor speed at 6.8GHz? And a whole TB of non-volatile RAM? Seems too good to be true, but if it is… I think it’s goning to change the way we do computing. A closer look at the company’s webpage revealed a closer look at some of the parts… surprisingly the connector looks for all the world like a jack from my earphones.

Exciting times ahead.

And now a little something less serious

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

Came across the prototype of the e-Paper developed by Phillips. Fully rolled out, it measures 5 inches, with a screen resolution of a 320 pixel by 240 pixel monochrome screen . Inactive, it rolls up into a package about 4 inches by 2.5 inches by an eighth of an inch. Talk about the bleeding edge of technology!

Dog food… not coming…
We finally figured out why the dog food wasn’t being delivered. JuzPetz is closing down their operations, and so we’re gonna have to kiss the delivery service goodbye.

~sigh~

So now the search is on for another online petshop with delivery services… and where the heck are we going to find Bone-a-Mints for SDG$1.90 each?!?

First up, something from Mr Brown:

Next, wanna see this page in Benglish? Click here!

Kudos to Kenny Sia for coming up with something like this!

And now, a little something more serious:

Laser Cannons Coming to an F-16 Near You
LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S. Pentagon invention could make air combat resemble a battle scene from Star Wars, with a laser so small it can fit on a fighter jet, yet powerful enough to knock down an enemy missile in flight. The High Energy Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS), being designed by the Pentagon’s central research and development agency, will weigh just 750 kg (1,650 lb) and measures the size of a large fridge.

:Link:
All we need now are some friggin’ sharks to mount this friggin’ laser on their heads…

Woohoo! Came across this article today, and I figured it’s worth a look.

The BrainGate™ System is based on Cyberkinetics’ platform technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. The System consists of a sensor that is implanted on the motor cortex of the brain and a device that analyzes brain signals. The principle of operation behind the BrainGate™ System is that with intact brain function, brain signals are generated even though they are not sent to the arms, hands and legs. The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements, offering the user an alternate “BrainGate™ pathway” to control a computer with thought, just as individuals who have the ability to move their hands use a mouse.

:Link:

Sooo… Cyberpunk. So, when can I get my Neural Interface Jack, hmmm?

Next up, is a mountain bike by the folks at Specialized.

Now, it looks cool as heck and neck breakingly fast; but how the hell are you supposed to steer the damned thing?

:Link:

Shameless Plug: Vote Me!

Flying tomorrow! *whee! whee! whee!*

Unfortunately, I’m on duty today. Luckily, there’s an internet connection here, so I can past the time quickly. Here’s something that caught my eye on cnet:

July 6, 2005 5:05 PM PDT
The science of zombie dogs
U.S. scientists have apparently discovered a way to reanimate dogs that have been clinically dead for three hours, a process intended for future human trials.

A new scientific approach tested at the Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research, based in Pittsburgh, drains some of the animal’s blood and replaces it with an ice-cold salt solution. The dog–considered technically dead without a heartbeat or brain waves–is then revived with a blood transfusion and electric shock up to three hours later. The process, called “suspended animation with delayed resuscitation,” is ultimately designed to help suspend and revive emergency victims, such as casualties of war or car accidents, who have experienced an otherwise lethal hemorrhage.

But the animal rights community must have had a hemorrhage over the Safar Centre’s tests. Last week, it issued a statement clarifying its research tactics and outlining its compliance with standards for the ethical treatment of animals.

*Gasp!* Zombie dogs!?! So… Resident Evil.