Category: Uncategorized

I got an intriguing email from eBay today asking me to verify my details because a fraudulent bid had been made with my accout. Interestingly it was sent to the email address that I don’t use for my eBay account. To see a copy of it click here.

It is of course a spoof email designed to steal my details and defraud me. First time I had ever received one though and it is probably because I have just started to sell a number of items that I don’t want anymore. Too much stuff and not enough space syndrome. It is quite a cathartic process to declutter my life. I’ve dumped a load of old magazines and comics for recycling that weren’t worth selling as well.

Tags: computer_security

Autumn Leaf
Originally uploaded by pwinn.

Mother Nature begins to roll out the colours of Autumn.

I haven’t posted any pictures from Flickr in a while, but this one really stood out as I was browsing through the recently uploaded pics.

Tags: photography

This new spin on pong sees me as addicted as I was to the original, Virtua Pong.

Actually having written that it might not truly be the case. I think the first computer game I really became addicted to was a knock the bricks from the wall by bouncing a ball off a movabble platform type game.

Tags: games

Farmyard furore as Five lets Rebecca Loos on porker

I can’t quite decide whether this is the zenith or nadir of reality television.

Five is heading for a new storm over dumbed down reality TV shows after screening its most controversial broadcast yet in which David Beckham’s alleged lover was shown masturbating a pig.

Rebecca Loos, Beckham’s former personal assistant, who gained notoriety earlier this year when she alleged she had conducted an affair with the England captain, carried out the procedure on Five’s reality show, The Farm.

The collection of semen from livestock is an everyday event in modern farming as the first step in artificial insemination that is done for selective breeding.

The public reaction and outrage surrounding this incident is hilarious with some even complaining that it is nothing more than bestiality. I think the most bizarre thing is the presence of Rebecca Loos on the show. Did I miss the point when she became not just the women that had fucked a famous married man but a celebrity in her own right? But then again with the surfeit of celebrity reality TV shows at the moment they must be having to scrape the bottom of the celebrity barrel to get people for the show.

Tags: TV

Busted Back The Tories

Young heart throbs Busted are backing the Conservatives – if only to hang on to their millions.

The trio, who found fame with Year 3000, Crashed The Wedding and Thunderbirds Are Go, attacked Labour’s tax hikes.

It was cretinous upper-midddle class twats like this that influenced enough people to keep Thatcher in power for so long.

In other news there is a new album by William Shatner that’s just been released and it’s been produced by Ben Folds.

William Shatner – Has Been

His rendition of Pulp’s Common People is to say the least interesting.

Tags: politics

Count Olaf of A Series of Unfortunate Events now has a blog apparently.

Lemony Snicket is just a name the studio cooked up to help sell my movie to citrus lovers! He doesn’t even exist!

I would recommend that if you happen to be fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events that you do not bother visiting these websites. If I were you, I would immediately turn your computer off rather than view any of the dreadful images, read any of the wretched information, play any of the unnerving games or examine the unpleasant books presented within them.

Tags: books

Link from BoingBoing to a couple of essays by the brilliant Bruce Schneier.

City Cops’ Plate Scanner is a License to Snoop

Academics locked out by tight visa controls

Tags: computer security, security

Found via plasticbag.org.

A model of how a home computer will look in 2004.

Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a “home computer” could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use…

The year is now 2004 and “economically feasible” or not I demand the right to have one of these in my home. Think of the things I could do with a computer in my own home with not only a teletype interface but the Fortran language also. I could organise the household accounts and my wife could store her recipes in an easily accessible place.

Tags: computing, futurism

About five weeks on from the time I wrote this blogpost about Annie Jacobsen and Northwest Airlines flight #327 I decided to revisit WomensWallStreet.com to see if there was yet another update to the story.

There is in fact two more parts.

Russian Airliners Were Likely Exploded From Their Toilets

Thankfully we have moved on from the hysteria and we now get a good analysis of the Chechen terrorists most likely responsible for blowing up two Russian airliners and their links to Islamic terrorist groups.

Gentlemen, Why Can’t We Get it Right?

In the latest article she tackles the role of the Air Marshals and the efficacy of their work to make aircraft safer.

Federal Air Marshals have become an integral weapon in America’s war on terror. Until recently, the highly secretive, pistol-packing sky-marshals were portrayed as America’s silent heroes: “unseen, unheard, unafraid.” But a spate of recent articles about the beleaguered Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS) have many Americans rethinking the reality behind the agency façade. It seems that a more appropriate motto for the FAMS might be “easily identifiable, not allowed to speak up, and concerned about their safety.”

Tags: terrorism

I watched the entire second series of the outstanding sitcom Spaced on DVD yesterday with the cast commentary. I love this show it’s pure fried gold.

Anyway interestingly Lucasfilm allowed them to use the official Star Wars sound effects in the second series after they had seen the affection the show had in the first series for the Star Wars movies. Unfortunately The Phantom Menace had been shown before the second series was written and it received a less than warm reception.

There is a lot of Star Wars in blogs at the moment as the original trilogy has just been relesed on DVD albeit in the ‘Special Edition’ versions with added scenes.

Matt Jones avid Star Wars fan mentions it in the announcement of his marriage to Fiona, The journey begins…

Rabid Ewok haters like Chris McEvoy can finally wreak havok on the furry little blighters by playing the role of an Imperial Stormtrooper in Star Wars Battlefront.

Tags: movies, Star Wars, TV