Month: January 2005

A confused customer unwittingly lead me to a discovery about Amazon.co.uk a couple of days ago.

She was an American lady that now lives in the UK who had enquired in the past about the possibility of our cinema doing a screening of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She had been told that there wasn’t a print available of the movie in this country.

She obviously got hold of the wrong end of the stick and thought this to mean that the movie was unavailable in any format in the UK and so asked a relative in the US to send a DVD copy of it from there.

She proudly presented me with said DVD and explained the whole saga of the events to me. Unfortunately it isn’t as simple to show a DVD as she thought and I had to tell her that it wouldn’t be possible. Firstly there is the compatibility issue we would have to find a player that could project a region 1 DVD then in order to screen it to the public we would have to sort out the rights for a public screening with the film distributor. We could have done a private screening for her but that would have meant she would have had to hire the screen which would have been very expensive.

Anyway her claims that there was no copy of the movie in this country piqued my curiosity; surely she was mistaken so I searched for it at Amazon. I did of course find it and at a very reasonable price of £7.97 on DVD.

I also noted that it was available from Amazon Jersey at the lower price of £5.63 (plus £1.24 for delivery).

Amazon Jersey!

I didn’t know there was an Amazon Jersey. Apparently Amazon has decided to exploit a loophole that allows purchases of less than £18 to be imported to the UK without having to pay duty on them. As Jersey does not currently impose VAT, small value items can be thus be purchased for a lower price from Amazon Jersey.

Tags: cinema

Boy brings encyclopaedia to book

A schoolboy has uncovered several mistakes in the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica – regarded by readers as an authority on everything.

Lucian George, 12, from north London, found five errors on two of his favourite subjects – central Europe and wildlife – and wrote to complain.

The book’s editor wrote back thanking him for “pointing out several errors and misleading statements”.

I think this is quite ironic given the article written last year concerning the lack of authority of the Wikipedia by Al Fasoldt and former Encyclopædia Britannica Editor in Chief Robert McHenry’s views.

I have to say that the following statement made by Lucien’s father Gabriel George comes as a bit of a surprise to me.

Gabriel, who works as a publishing editor, was not surprised by his son’s discoveries.

He said: “I know how easy it is to make mistakes. Hopefully they can be corrected.

“The encyclopaedia cost me £700 [$1,320] and it’s nice to know you can rely on it.

“It’s a huge work and is full of fascinating information on virtually everything. The other night we had an argument about the depth of the English Channel and all the facts were there.”

I would have thought that he would be quite aggrieved given that he has paid hundreds of pounds for an encyclopaedia that has mistakes that his son discovered in an area where he has some expertise and who knows how many mistakes that his son hasn’t discovered in areas that he has lesser knowledge of.

I’m not sure how he can be sure he can rely upon it now that he is aware of the fact it contains mistakes, or how any argument can now be settled by facts contained within concerning the depth of the English Channel.

This of course does nothing to solve the problems of the Wikipedia but it does undermine the Encyclopædia Britannica’s claim of superior authority.

Tags: books

Mystery twister crytpo challenge

Solving the Enigma of Kryptos

Tags: cryptography

I came across this late as it was written a few years ago.

Is Your Son a Computer Hacker? a brilliant spoof advisory for parents that is made even more hilarious by the numerous comments from supposedly intelligent people that have failed to get the joke.

This article is the biggest crock of sh*t I’ve ever read.

I could argue every point, but let’s just say that being argumentative and surly in social behavior does not make hackers… it’s a behavior of everyone. I’m 22 and STILL act like in such manners when IDIOTS make comments like this and generalize about people without ANY sense of intelligence.

As far as AMD processors and upgrading to new technology…. People always want their systems to be FASTER so they can get more done in less time… not because it helps us break your computer faster. Oh and I *did* buy my AMD at a local computer shop NOT by ordering online.

As for academic ability… well, let’s just say I graduated in the top 5% of my class. Nevermind my appearance which has radically changed as I matured from baggy jeans to more professional work clothes and parted hair-cut to something more modern.

And what the heck is Lunix? Do you mean Linux the Operating System designed to compete with Windows? And oh my god let’s not talk about Quake, the popular game that kids like to play online with friends.

Oh and as computer technician and network administrator… I spend more than 10 hours on a computer per day.

As for the hacking manuals… yes I do read them… I like to know how to protect my systems, so people AREN’T stealing my data.

If you wanna call these behaviors hacking… by all means do so… just don’t expect the INTELLIGENT people in the world to be blinded by your ignorance and generalizations.

Aaron M. Hall

You may have graduated in the top 5% of your class but as you didn’t understand that it was a spoof Aaron M. Hall I suspect you have an autistic spectrum disorder such as Asperger’s Syndrome.

Tags: games

We keep hearing that irony is dead, and that we must embrace a new age of sincerity. Supposedly, the current world climate is such that irony is a luxury we can’t afford.

But maybe when they say that — you know, “they” — they’re being ironic. It’s hard to tell; maybe they’re just really deadpan. Maybe what they’re trying to tell us by proclaiming the death of irony is that tough times require us to be even more arch, and even more suspicious of the seemingly benign. And maybe a statement decrying irony should be interpreted as meaning the exact opposite!

If so: yay! We love irony!

Or, we don’t, and we’re being ironic.

I also [heart] Charlize Theron as Aeon Flux.

Tags: love

Adverts have been appearing in the run up to the switch over to chip and PIN.

Keep forgetting your PIN?
It’s easy to change with chip and PIN.
To something more memorable like a birthday or your lucky numbers. You can change your PIN at the cash machine. Easily. Or by simply contacting your card issuer. The new chip and PIN cards will make life easier and safer. If you haven’t received one yet, you soon will.

I have my doubts about the whole switch to chip and PIN especially the message they are peddling that it will make life easier and safer. It isn’t really fundamentally any more secure it just changes the threat model and offers no increase in security for the card user at all.

Plus as Ryan points out about the advice in the advert

Right, so when the thief steals my wallet, the first PIN combination they are going to try is DDMM or MMYY of my birthday, which is on my driving license and they are now also telling us that we can change our PIN by phone!

I believe it probably will cut credit card fraud in the short term until the fraudsters come up with a new strategy and inevitably I think it will lead to customers forgetting to sign their cards and that will result in further avenues for fraud.

Tags: computer security, identity theft, security

The excellent three-part BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares is to be broadcast again this week.

The Power of Nightmares will be broadcast over three nights from 18 to 20 January at 2320GMT on BBC Two. The final part has been updated in the wake of the Law Lords ruling in December that detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial was illegal.

I watched it when it was originally broadcast and believe it to be an eye-opening experience for those people that have been convinced by their governments dire warnings of the threat of global terrorism.

The three part series tries to get to the truth of the threat facing us behind the politicians rhetoric and the media’s sensationalist headlines.

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares.

The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares.

In a new series, the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion.

It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media.

Part I: Baby It’s Cold Outside
Part II: The Phantom Victory
Part III: The Shadows in the Cave

Tags: Adam Curtis, security, terrorism, TV

It looks like the movie adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s seminal comic book series V for Vendetta will be going ahead with Natalie Portman in a leading role.

The film will be produced by the The Wachowski Brothers and Joel Silver, the creators and producer of the revolutionary, $1.6 billion-grossing Matrix trilogy and directed by James McTeigue.

I’m feeling very positive about this production and I’m confident that the Wachowskis will deliver a truly excellent adaptation of one of Alan Moore’s works as the previous movie adaptations, From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have been below par.

Tags: comics, movies

City of ghosts
In a joint investigation for the Guardian and Channel 4 News, Iraqi doctor Ali Fadhil compiled the first independent reports from the devastated city of Falluja.

December 24

In the morning we went back towards Falluja and heard that there were queues of people waiting to try to get back into the city. The government had made an announcement saying that the people from some districts could start to go back home; they promised compensation. About midday we got a mile east of the city and saw that four queues had formed near the American base. They were mostly men, waiting for US military ID to allow them back home.

The men were angry: “This is a humiliation. I say no more than that. These IDs are to make us bow Fallujan heads in shame,” one of them said.

I met Major Paul Hackett, a marine officer in the Falluja liaison base. He said that the US military was not trying to humiliate anyone, but that the IDs were necessary for security. “I mean, my understanding is that ultimately they can hang this ID card on a wall and keep it as a souvenir,” he said.

They took prints of all my fingers, two pictures of my face in profile, and then photographed my iris. I was now eligible to go into Falluja, just like any other Fallujan.

But it was late by then, somewhere near 5pm (the curfew is at 6pm). After that anyone who moves inside the city will be shot on sight by the US military. Tomorrow, we would try again to get into the city.

So the security of Falluja is maintained by biometric ID cards is it. We don’t have the full story here but then Dr. Ali Fadhil’s report isn’t considered with the issues of ID cards it is concerned with the devastation of Falluja.

Is the US military demanding people identify themselves whenever a patrol comes across an individual in Falluja?
Do they have a list of suspected insurgents at the ID processing centre in order to prevent those individuals gaining ID cards?
What happens to the data once law and order has been restored to Falluja and Iraq in general?

I doubt that the use of biometric information in this system has an increased security effect over the simple photo-IDs that could have been issued to returning Fallujans. It seems to me that this merely an experiment to test the biometric ID card system in the field as it were by a US government which is intending to introduce such a system in some form or another for it’s own citizens.

In other fingerprinting news we have this from Bruce Schneier on the Security issues with Fingerprinting Students.

Tags: ID_cards, security

I received an email from NO2ID.net giving an update on the National ID cards Bill as it passes through parliament.

Revolts.co.uk has produced an analysis of the Second Reading backbench rebellion (PDF file).

We urgently call on all supporters to contact their MPs, Councillors, AMs and MSPs to make them aware of your concerns and to point out that ID cards are not a popular measure, despite what a number of them believe. If you get a response then please pass on details of their position to our
Parliamentary Liaison, Rachael Marsh ([email protected]).

List of MSPs – http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/index.htm
List of AMs – http://www.wales.gov.uk/who/constit_e.htm
Fax Westminster MPs – http://www.faxyourmp.com/

In addition to contacting your MP you may wish to support the campaign by either signing the petition or by making a donation.

Tags: ID_cards