Showing posts with label not. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not. Show all posts

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Not Superbia

Not Superbia


Not the way you expected, not the way that you hoped, but I promise youll understand soon:  Vic and Frank are back.
#NotSuperbia.


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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Not much to add pretty girls Not sure why some are wearing masks now I think previously the sam

Not much to add pretty girls Not sure why some are wearing masks now I think previously the sam


Safe Mode: On
Not much to add, pretty girls. Not sure why some are wearing masks now - I think previously, the same girls were without masks in other videos. Maybe they have family in government-controlled areas - Kiev forces started arresting militiamens mothers and exchanging them (probably ran out of soldiers nuts magazine for exchange). PS. Some other "women at war" videos: And a short film about WWII tradition (see description):
Added: May-18-2015   Occurred On: May-18-2015 By: Tatzhit In: Ukraine , Other News , History Tags: ukraine , women at war , Location: Donetsk , Donetska , Ukraine ( load item map ) Views: 2461 | Comments: 36 | Votes: 9 | Favorites: 0 | Shared: 3 | Updates: 0 | Times used in channels: 3
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Friday, April 14, 2017

Not so super hooper

Not so super hooper



So, I am trying to lose some weight. Medication, chocolate and too much wine have combined against me. My well meaning neighbor asked me recently if I was having another baby. No, Just fat! But thanks for asking!!

A few weeks ago, I had a brain wave. It is notoriously hard to get away from my children  find the time to exercise, so I thought a perfect solution would be something I could do at home whether the boys were there or not. And what would be that perfect thing??

Hula Hooping!!

I picked up a couple of hula hoops from Big W and was filled with a new motivation and sense of purpose. I was ready to  hula the shit outta that hoop and lose my wine belly before you could say, "Semillion Blanc, anyone?"

But guess what? I cant hula hoop. 

That thing hit the floor a millisecond after I flung it around my waist.  My hips and waist seemed to be fighting on opposite sides of a very uncoordinated battle. 

The thing is, I just ASSUMED I would be able to do it. Who knew that hula hooping is an acquired talent?!? I thought everyone could do it. 

I told my Lovely Husband of my failure.

Lovely Husband: "Show me.  Surely it cant be that bad?" 

Fling. Clatter. (the sound of stupid hoop hitting the floor)

Lovely Husband: "Wow. I thought it would at least go around once or twice. You really cant do that, can you?"

Me: "I KNOW! It is so disappointing and confusing cos I was REALLY AWESOME at hula hooping on the Wii."

Lovely Husband: "You realise there is no actual hoop involved with Wii hula hooping. Its just wiggling your hips."

Me: "Hhhmmm. That explains a lot."

Have you ever assumed you could do something you totally couldnt do?







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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Not from Life

Not from Life



no, not from life, unless there is an undiscovered part of Los Angeles...the French quarter...but i did think it came out nicely. a little sketch done this morning at the breakfast table.

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Monday, March 27, 2017

Not even a single penny for Sachin Andhra news daily

Not even a single penny for Sachin Andhra news daily


MS Dhoni: The Untold Story opened to phenomenal response at the Box Office. Now, Be ready for the biopic of most celebrated cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

As per reliable sources, Sachin didnt charge a single penny for his biopic. Ravi Bhagchandka, a friend of Master Blaster, is producing the movie. James Erskine helms the project. Music is by AR Rahman.

Sachin shared some untold secrets about himself and his love story. He also encouraged his son Arjun Tendulkar to play his role of a Teenager in the biopic.



First look teaser of Sachin: A Billion Dreams was unveiled on April 14th this year. So far, it earned over five million view. Makers have plans to release the biopic in all the cricket playing Nations. Its like a tribute to a great man who inspired three generations with unbelievable records.

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Friday, March 24, 2017

Networks blur policy of not paying for interviews

Networks blur policy of not paying for interviews


In the January 3, 2010 article "Networks blur policy of not paying for interviews," Associated Press television writer David Bauder reports that media payments for subjects of interviews is questioning the integrity of news media:

NEW YORK – Policies forbidding payment for news interviews increasingly seem like the network television equivalent of the 55 mph speed limit: a rule often winked at unless youre heading into a speed trap.

Three of the past months accidental celebrities — Jasper Schuringa, who helped thwart an attack on a Detroit-bound plane; David Goldman, who took a custody fight for his son to Brazil; and the White House party-crashing Salahis — have either sought or received goodies from TV networks eager to hear their stories.

Schuringa gave interviews to outlets that had agreed to purchase blurry cell phone images hed taken of a man who authorities say tried to use explosives to take down the plane. Goldman and his son accepted NBCs offer of a ride home from Brazil on a charter airplane.

Representatives for Michaele and Tareq Salahi, who embarrassed the Obama administration by sneaking into a state dinner, were reportedly seeking six-figure bids from networks to tell their story.

"I dont know if people would have thought of that in the past," said Andy Schotz, head of the ethics committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. "But now often the first thing people think of is to get a publicist, a lawyer and an agent and figure out how to make money" from instant notoriety, he said.

The society condemned NBC for "checkbook journalism" with the Goldman trip. NBC said it had already chartered a plane to bring its personnel back from Brazil, and Goldmans lawyer said the invitation was accepted so father and son could avoid being accosted by multiple camera crews on the way home.

But NBC took multiple pictures and interviewed Goldman on the plane before his exclusive "Today" interview with Meredith Vieira. And the network seems immune to the industrys financial troubles: A chartered jet from Brazil to New York would cost about $90,000, according to Blue Star Jets, a New York-based charter company. Going commercial, a coach seat runs under $1,400.

Policies against paying for interviews are in place to avoid distorting the news. The concern is that news subjects will change their stories to make them more valuable or please those who paid them.

Evasion efforts seem centered primarily on ultra-competitive morning news shows and prime-time magazines. These outlets now fight for stories that might have been considered tabloid fodder years ago, often against Web sites or other outlets that wont hesitate to pay for an interview or information.

News organizations now frequently pay interview subjects for the use of personal photos or videos. Both CNN and ABC paid for a Schuringa photo, reportedly thousands of dollars, and insisted they were not paying for an interview. Yet Gawker.com said Shai Ben-Ami, a Schuringa friend who was helping arrange media appearances, made it clear the Dutch hero wouldnt speak to an outlet that didnt buy rights to a photo. Ben-Ami would not comment to The Associated Press.

Its an increasingly easy dodge in these days of cell phone cameras, when there are usually visual images available to accompany an interview.

Morning shows will often bring an interview subject to New York and cover expenses. (Its not payment for an interview, but it can be a nice vacation.)

Networks can skirt ethics policies by putting their entertainment divisions in charge of an interview, said Nicolla Hewitt, a longtime network news booker. These would seem most likely in cases involving major celebrities.

"Do I think its right? No," Hewitt said. "But is it the new reality? Yes."

Paul Friedman, a veteran news executive and CBS News senior vice president, said theres a generational change with more people in the industry who argue that the old standards are too rigid.

The Schuringa case led Foster Kamer, a Gawker writer, to mock the network news divisions. Gawker has acknowledged that it paid for a story last fall where a collaborator to Richard Heene provided evidence that the "balloon boy" episode was a hoax.

"Mainstream outlets who hold themselves in higher regards than those (like ours) who openly admit ponying up for a story are doing the same thing themselves, the sole difference being: We dont feel the need to lie about it," Kamer wrote. "Why do they?"

Paul Levinson, head of the communications department at Fordham University, said hes been paid for interviews by the British Broadcasting Corp. ("Im not allergic to money," he said.) He said he cant recall a case where the story was distorted because money was exchanged and argues that the policy doesnt make sense.

"It has always been the case that our free press operates in a capitalist economy — meaning money is involved, whether we like it or not," he said.

Networks have a cadre of paid consultants, like former generals or national security experts who share insights when a complicated story breaks that involves their topic. There was a time theyd do it for free for the attention it offered, Friedman said.

Even with policies in place that prohibit payment of interview subjects, its interesting how many news subjects think they can cash in. And how quickly: Schuringa had wrestled with the Detroit terror subject and dragged him to the front of the plane yet still had the presence of mind to snap photos when authorities came.

Its hard to know how frequently evasion practices are taking place, said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute think tank. They dont usually become known unless the interview subjects talk about it or disgruntled network officials leak the news, as happened with the Salahis.

Reporters at local TV stations or newspapers that dont pay for interviews are more frequently meeting news subjects who wont talk unless theyre paid, McBride said.

"If we all drew a line again, maybe we could stop this," Friedman said. "But thats probably hopelessly naive. Its out of the bottle."
___
On the Net:
http://www.gawker.com

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Not Your Fathers BMX Oh Wait Yes It Is

Not Your Fathers BMX Oh Wait Yes It Is


First of all, further to yesterdays post, various Gran Fondont participants commented to testify on behalf of the Toyota Matrix driver I pilloried therein.  Apparently the Matrix driver was not honking at us, and was instead honking at the Porsche driver.  Or something.

Inasmuch as I was at the front of the ride (owing both to my responsibilities as ride leader as well as my formidable climbing prowess), I admit I did not witness the genesis of the event, and therefore I will defer to those whose vantage point allowed them to watch it unfold in its entirety.  And if I did indeed mistakenly berate the Matrix driver, Id like to apologize to him, as well as to Matrix drivers everywhere, assuming they are not assholes:


(A Matrix)

As for the Porsche driver, there seems to be unanimity in the opinion that he was a gigantic douchebag, so screw him.

Moving on, as youve probably heard by now, metal band Slayer (whose music is currently blasting out of roughly 2/3rds of the Toyota Matrices on the road today) have embarked upon a bicycle "collabo" with the BMX company Subrosa:


And in addition to both 20" and 26" BMX bikes, the new Slayer line will also include a 700c whatever-this-is:


As well as a balance bike:


Because apparently the amount of time it takes for a metal band to go from penning adulatory songs about Josef Mengele to co-branding bikes for toddlers is exactly 30 years.

This is not to impugn Slayer by any means, for they were just doing their job in an era when subjects such as Nazi war criminals, virgin sacrifices, serial killers, and good old-fashioned corpse-fuckers were very much in the zeitgeist.  See, you have to understand that the 1980s were a much quainter time, and there were still delicate sensibilities left to offend:


I also dont mean to impugn Slayers embarking on a commercial venture with a bicycle company.  Indeed, I only want them to succeed, which is precisely why Im so concerned.  Frankly, this smaks of a major marketing misfire.  Consider, for example, Subrosa brand manager Ryan Shers comments regarding that 700c whatever-it-is, which carries the unfortunate moniker "Cradle to Grave:"


“And we love the Cradle to Grave concept,” Sher adds. “We want to create lifelong fans of our brand and lifelong fans of cycling. Once a kid gets on a BMX bike—sort of the dirty little brother of cycling—that’s the gateway into cycling. You’ll become a mountain biker, a road cyclist... so the theme starts and finishes your life on a bike.”

Those ellipses are very disturbing.  So you start with BMX, move on to mountain biking, then take up road cycling...and then you die?!?  Hey, I realize Slayer sing about death and stuff, but I dont think most people want to "finish their life on a bike."  Some of us want to at least survive well past the Fred phase.  We want to live long enough to covet Rivendells and Bromptons and lugged steel and touring bikes with a bunch of leather and canvas accessories and all that other stuff old people like.  Plus, if Slayer really wanted to push this "finish your life on a bike" concept, theyd sell a Slayer-branded trailer that doubles as a coffin:


(Now thats cradle-to-grave.)

That way when youre ready to finish your life you just crawl into it, launch the "Cradle to Grave" app, and Slayer Graveside Assistance comes to bury you alive in it.

Even better, with a Slayer line of recumbents, you wouldnt even have to climb into the trailer, and they could just bury you in situ:


(The top-of-the-line "Slay-cumbent Wermacht" model)

Plus, by selling BMX bikes, is Slayer really tapping into their core market?  I mean look at them:


These guys are old and so are their fans.  Bassist and lead vocalist Tom Araya may have ridden BMX bikes as a kid, but the guy hasnt even been able to headbang for six years, and Im willing to bet if he tried to straddle one of his own bands branded bikes hed break a hip.

And sure, I know what youre thinking: "These bikes arent for Slayers aging fanbase, theyre for their kids."  But do kids really want bikes branded with the music their deeply uncool Toyota Matrix-driving parents like?  Slayer formed in 1981, and their landmark album "Reign in Blood" is now 30 years old.  Thirty years old.  Thats fucking ancient.  Look at it this way: I was deeply into BMX when I was 12 years old, and you know what rock album was 30 years old then?  "Rock Around the Clock."  And I can assure you theres no fucking way I would have ridden a Bill Haley and His Comets BMX back in 1985, no matter how badass my parents assured me it was.


("Raining blood, from a lacerated sky..."--Bill Haley and His Comets)

Id have been way into a Slayer bike though...just like, if Im to be totally honest, Id probably be way into a Slayer folding bike today.  Their logo even looks kind of like a folded up Brompton:


A hand-chamfered Brooks with a pentagram burned into it and its ready to go.

Youre welcome, Slayer.

It could even come with a hand-painted denim Slayer smart jacket:


Imagine if you could control your phone and favourite mobile apps with a simple touch of a jacket sleeve while cycling along.

Science fiction? Maybe, but its soon to be science fact in the shape of Levi’s Commuter Trucker jacket with Google’s Advanced Technologies and Projects (ATAP’s) Project Jacquard technology woven in.

Incidentally, if youre wondering how to pronounce "Jacquard," it rhymes with "Jack-Tard," which is the smart jacket equivalent of a "Glasshole."

Project Jacquard is designed to make it possible to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile using standard industrial looms. By combining thin metallic alloys together with more commonplace yarns like cotton or silk, the garment can almost invisibly add smart capabilities.

Incredible!  I cant wait for Project Jack-Tard.  Just think of the possibilities.  Indeed, its only a matter of time before your KuKu Penthouse is equipped with a "smart chamois" which allows you to run through the functions of your "smart glasses" using only your scranus:


(With scranus-activated smart chamois capability youll finally be able to put that finger back up your nose.)

Just dont let your "smart jacket" wet, which shouldnt be a problem because nobody ever gets caught in the rain while riding:


"Detachable brains" indeed.

Soon youll be able to say you left yours in your other pants.

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Saturday, March 18, 2017

Network complexity intrusions youre not on top of things as much as you think

Network complexity intrusions youre not on top of things as much as you think


Here are some new articles and guest blog posts that Ive written on the subject of network complexity, intrusions, and how most people have a false sense of security. Enjoy!

Dealing with today’s information systems complexity

Network complexity: Bad for Business, Great for Job Security

Knowing the warning signs of network intrusions

During and after a breach, all eyes are on you

Five network security lessons learned from the Sony Pictures hack

A perspective on the next big data breach

Reactive security, how’s that working for you?

For all the latest information security content, be sure to check out my website at www.principlelogic.com.

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Thursday, March 16, 2017

not your average white top

not your average white top


Shoes: M. Gemi (in two colors, also love these). Denim: JBrand. Top: Rosie Assoulin (see my other white top picks below). Tote: Rae Feather (also love this one). Hat. Lips. Sunglasses: Linda Farrow.

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Sunday, March 12, 2017

Not quite dead

Not quite dead



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not a morning person

not a morning person




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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Not Doing Taxes

Not Doing Taxes


My God. It has been ages. Its not that I havent thought about it. Of course I have. Its just that thinking about it leads to the question of what to write and then it all gets complicated and my brain wanders off for a little cup of Earl Grey and a lie down.

Why now, then? Well, its mainly because I have a to do list in front of me, and right there, in my own lovingly-crafted biro scrawl, are the hellish words "DO TAXES".

Wow, I suddenly really want to write a blog post.

And clean the bathroom. Oh, and paint my toenails. And write a song and practice my cello and clean the cupboards and call my sisters and put some stickers on my face and plait the neighbours cat and see what I look like with writing on my eyelids and sit under the stairs.

(You may have noticed that only a couple of things I use for procrastination devices are actually productive in any way. I win.)

I want to write about all the stuff thats been going on, and there has been loads and most of it has been exciting and cool and some of it has involved lying on the floor of an old mill clutching peoples ankles, being dragged along as they try to kick me off with genuine force and feeling. But when I tried to start writing about it all I wrote the sentence "last week I did a thing", which is factually accurate but would not score many points in a French Oral examination (not least because it is in English).

It is grey and miserable outside. We have a new sofa. Well, it isnt new, it is second- (or possibly third- or fourth-) hand, but it is new to us. It is massive. About the size of our entire flat. It is blue leather, but nicer than it sounds. It is squatting in the middle of the room, daring anyone to sit on it. It is a monolith, and I cant shake the feeling that it disapproves of me.

The old sofa, the tiny, uncomfortable red corduroy abomination with its cat scratched arms and frankly hideous odour, is cowering in the back of the room. I feel sorry for it. I feel like it is keening plaintively at me, wondering what it has done wrong and why we dont love it any more.

I have got to stop anthropomorphising furniture and get on with my tax return.

Annoyingly I have already planned my workshops for this week, although I could spend an hour or two re-doing it, although that would no doubt send me into a panic and I would then have to relegate it to the towering procrastination pile as well.

I have spent a bit of time ensuring the lighting is exactly right for the task of taxes, and making a cup of coffee which I wont drink because I am already feeling jittery from the first one and its making me feel weird about the sofa.

The thing is, tax returns arent even hard. All you have to do is sort stuff out and write it into the form, so actually I dont mind doing it, but I did just suddenly feel that I couldnt possibly do it without writing a screechingly-tedious blog post about it first.

Which I have done. Well done me.

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Saturday, March 4, 2017

Not Dead or Dying

Not Dead or Dying


Worried about you, EA?. Give us a sign if you have a chance.
Still alive. I know, Im being a bad blogger-- but a good editor. Getting stuff done. Being my alter ego.
Thanks for the concern! And the patience!

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Not So Random Numbers Take Two

Not So Random Numbers Take Two


George Argyros and Aggelos Kiayias have published recently an awesome research concerning attacks on pseudo random generator in PHP. However, it lacked practical tools implementing this attack. That is why we conducted our own research which led to the creation of a program to perform the bruteforce of PHPSESSID.

How can we get mt_rand seed via PHPSESSID?


PHPSESSID is generated this way:

md5( client IP . timestamp . microseconds1 . php_combined_lcg() )
  • client IP is known to the attacker;
  • timestamp is known through Date HTTP-header;
  • microseconds1 – a value from 0 to 1000000;
  • php_combined_lcg() – an example value is 0.12345678.

To generate php_combined_lcg(), two seeds are used:

S1 = timestamp XOR (microseconds2 << 11)
S2 = pid XOR (microseconds3 << 11)
  • timestamp is the same;
  • microseconds2 is greater than microseconds1 (when the first time measurement was made) by 0–3;
  • pid is the id of the current process (0–32768, 1024–32768 on Unix);
  • microseconds3 is greater than microseconds2 by 1–4.

The greatest entropy is contained in microseconds1, however with the use of two techniques it can be substantially reduced.

Adversarial Time Synchronization


The technique is aimed at sending pairs of requests so that to determine the moment when the second in the Date HTTP header changes.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2012 06:05:14 GMT
…
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2012 06:05:15 GMT

If it happened, the microseconds between our requests zeroed. By sending requests with dynamic delays it is possible to synchronize local value of microseconds with the server one.

Request Twins


The principle of this technique is simple. The attacker needs to send two requests: the first one — to reset their own password and the second one — to reset that of an administrator. The gap between microseconds will be minimal.

To sum up, an MD5 PHPSESSID hash is bruteforced for microseconds, the deltas of subsequent time measurements, and pid. As for pid, the authors have not mentioned such a great helper as Apache server-status which reveals among other information the pids of the processes which serve the requests.

To realize the bruteforce, a module for the popular program PasswordsPro has been initially created. However, this solution made it impossible to take into account the positive linear correlation between deltas of microseconds, so it bruteforced the full range of values. The speed was about 12 million hashes per second.

That is why we created our own GUI application for this task.


The speed is about 16 million hashes per second, seed calculation takes less than an hour on 3.2 GHz Quad Core i5.

Having pid and php_combined_lcg one can compute the seed used in mt_rand. It is generated this way:

(timestamp x pid) XOR (106 x php_combined_lcg())

Besides, php_combined_lcg is used as additional entropy for the uniqid function (if it is called with the second argument being true).

So, if a web application uses standard PHP sessions, it is possible to obtain the random numbers generated via mt_rand(), rand(), and uniqid().

How can we get mt_rand seed through one of the random numbers leakage?

The seed used for mt_rand is an unsigned integer 2^32. If a random number leaked, it is possible to get the seed using PHP itself and rainbow tables. It takes less than 10 minutes.
The scripts to generate rainbow tables, search the seed, and ready-made tables are available here: http://www.gat3way.eu/poc/mtrt/


What to look for in the code?

All the mt_rand(), rand(), uniqid(), shuffle(), lcg_value(), etc. The only secure function is openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(), but it is rarely used in web applications. The main ways of defense against such attacks are the following:

  • MySQL function RAND() — it can be also predicted though.
  • Suhosin patch — does not patch mt_srand, srand. The Suhosin extension should also be installed.
  • /dev/urandom — the securest way.



Arseny Reutov
Timur Yunusov
Dmitry Nagibin

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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Not So Functional 90s Fashion Trends

Not So Functional 90s Fashion Trends


We may not all be slaves to fashion, but at one point or another most of us are guilty of following the crowd. Whether were trend dabblers or wanted in six states for crimes of fashion, many of us gave in to the glittering allure of certain fads for no reason other than that everyone else was doing it. These fashion statements did not generally jive with any normal rhyme or reason of functionality; everyone else was simply jumping off that bridge and we decided we might as well take the plunge ourselves.

Everything is clearer in retrospect, so its tough to admonish our former selves for not having the good sense to realize these trends were bad ideas at best. Fashion and trends are not about utility and function, of course, but these items are fairly high on the list of unjustifiable offenders. There remains no real solid explanation for their existence other than that magazines and stores told us they were worth sacrificing scarce allowance money. If we cant defend their usefulness, we may retrospectively embrace their complete lack of function.

There are many, many totally non-functional 90s fashion items to choose from, but heres a selection of some of the least defensible. If you wish to plead your case condoning their existence, feel free to use the comments section as an issues platform:



Tearaway Pants


Okay, fine, I admit these arent completely without their merits. To professional athletes I imagine there was some millisecond saved when coming in from off the bench. For everyone else out there, these were generally inexcusable. These pants were held together not by stitching and solid fabric, but rather by well-ventilated snap buttons running down the outside of either leg. While it is something of an innovation to be able to remove your athletic pants in one single well-coordinated motion, it is not a necessary function by any means.



Shirt Ties/Clips
This may not be the authentic product, but its the best Google Images has to offer. Plus, doesnt it make you want to get some for your next 80s/90s Halloween costume? Those things are sparkly to the max...and apparently "80s to the max" too

There are truly no excuses for these; they serve no purpose whatsoever, nor is the look particularly flattering. For some reason, though, it was all the rage in the late 80s and early 90s for young girls to clip or tie their oversized t-shirts on one side. Im only telling you this because Ive finally come to terms with the ridiculousness of it all, but at one birthday slumber party I had kits for each girl to paint and decorate her very own shirt clip. Humiliating, I know, but Im willing to take one for the team in the name of exposing key shirt clip evidence circa 1994.


Skorts


If youre playing tennis, Ill grant you this one, but if youre just looking for the comfort of shorts with the dressiness of a skirt you have no excuses for humoring that whim by wearing this garment. From the front, a skirt. From the back, shorts. If youre not in an athletic situation, its not a particularly flattering look to sport (some pun intended) a hybrid skort-shorts. In typical 90s clever coinage, we called them "skorts" but we may well have labeled them "fashion mistakes." Off the courts, there are no situations where its necessary to be wearing one outfit from the front and another from the back, period. The built-in shorts with a full-around skirt cover is a little better, but its all relative in non-functional skort territory.


Giant Platform Shoes

I blame the Spice Girls for making these seem so darn appealing. In reality, they were impractical, cartoonish, and a bit dangerous. We started off in familiar territory with sandals and dress shoes, but things quickly escalated to a red-alert level when shoe companies started throwing these platform soles on sneakers. For that, there is truly no defense.


Fleece Vests


Dont you ever get really cold in the general torso area, but your arms remain comfortably warm? Well, have I got the product for you! Complete with its own insanely irritating Old Navy television commercial theme song, polar fleece exploded onto the scene in the late 90s in a major way. These vests were particularly popular, proving that many of us are willing to sacrifice arm comfort in the name of fashion. Stores marketed these as utilitarian and outdoorsy, but unless youre participating in a cold weather activity that requires exceptional arm freedom, these things are not exactly the most useful of warming winter garments.


Mini Backpacks



What, youve never had the urge to carry around a receptacle that holds approximately three nickels, a stick of gum, and a handful of M&Ms? Thats a totally legitimate haul warranting a bag of its own. We all know how tough it is to hold an incredibly small quantity of items in our hands, so when these mini-backpacks cropped up in stores we were all too eager to hop on the scaled-down container bandwagon. They were sort of cute, yes, but usefulness was not high on their list of positive qualities.


Scrunched/Slouchy Socks


Its not so much that the socks themselves serve no purpose, but rather that the style in which we preferred to wear them was moderately mind-baffling. The scrunching served no real need outside of an alleged aesthetic purpose. It was simply the preferred style of sock self-expression. Why buy short ankle socks when you can just buy enormous tube socks and scrunch them into a fold-ridden mass? Its an airtight defense for slouchiness.


Overalls

Coveralls may be functional in a manual labor slash farm hand type situation, but they serve no real protective purpose in everyday suburban civilian life. If you have no use for that hammer hook on the back, you probably could have just made do with a regular shirt-and-slacks combo. Just saying.


We may claim the primary purpose of clothing is purely functional: to cover our nakedness and protect us from the elements. Somewhere along the way, though, weve evolved a sense of crowd mentality that works against our primal instinct to wear things that serve some purpose. We may not be able to defend our past fashion choices, but at the very least we can laugh at them. A lot. Really. These are just terrible. Commence mocking.

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Saturday, February 25, 2017

Not A Baby

Not A Baby



This weekend, during a long car ride, I found myself lost in thought about this little boy of mine.

"Id be so heartbroken if he was our last baby instead of our first" I thought. As he becomes more and more of a toddler each day I think about the baby he never was. Baby Fix-It was born alert. Wide eyed. Curious. Passionate. Expressive. Independent. I love him for all these things. I marvel at his determination.

Each time he acquires a new skill he is so proud of himself. Each time he catches someones attention he bursts with happiness. He waves. Hes been on a mission to walk since he was 7 months old. He marvels at older kids. A pacifier? Never. Cuddles? No time for that. Crawling? Psssssh. I walk, remember?

Its taken me until now to figure out why this little boy of mine was so miserable during his first few months in the world: he simply didnt like being a baby.

Im so glad youre my first born, little boy. You can lead the pack. But take your time. That great big world will be waiting for you even if you want to slow down a little.




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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Not Your Average Sloppy Joe

Not Your Average Sloppy Joe



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Friday, February 17, 2017

Not Quite My Last Day At Kualoa Ranch

Not Quite My Last Day At Kualoa Ranch


These are pictures I took a while back when I was shooting on Kualoa Ranch.
We thought this was going to be our last day here. But as the rain became plentiful and the daylight became scarce, we knew we would return once again.Something to keep in mind when shooting on Kualoa Ranch:

We are only renting space here.

The real owners of the ranch

are the cows.

So watch your step. Even at lunch.

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Sunday, February 12, 2017

NASA Not Man Behind Arctic Sea Ice decline

NASA Not Man Behind Arctic Sea Ice decline


A submarine in open ice-free water in 1960. I caption this picture The implications are obvious

If there was no ice in 1960, how can claims of arctic ice decline since 1980 possibly be true? None of this is making any sense. Here is a so-called graph from the National Snow and Ice Data-center:

Arctic Sea Ice summer minimas since 1979 (according to the NSIDC). Note they leave off the Submarine Warming Period (SWP)

Why do they start in 1979? Well putting my blog science skills to good use, I navigated a browser client through their website and found a secret folder link named
disclaimer1 - hmm a suspicious name. Nicely hidden but I uncovered it anyway (if you are a journalist for The Australian or another leading media publication, please give me due credit for uncovering this on my own)

The folder contains very interesting information. I have added some bold highlighting at random points:

"Image derivation is from the Sea Ice data product, which relies on NASA-developed methods using passive-microwave data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F13 Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). The basis for the Sea Ice Index is the data set, "Near Real-Time DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations", and the NASA-produced "Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I Passive Microwave Data". The Sea Ice Index was developed with financial support from NOAA NESDIS and in cooperation with NOAA NGDC. Please note that our daily sea ice images, derived from microwave measurements, may show spurious pixels in areas where sea ice may not be present. These artifacts are generally caused by coastline effects, or less commonly by severe weather. Scientists use masks to minimize the number of "noise" pixels, based on long-term extent patterns. Noise is largely eliminated in the process of generating monthly averages, our standard measurement for analyzing interannual trends."*

So NASA are behind this afterall. And worse we find out that satellites are being used to measure ice. Denial Depot has
reported numerous problems with the satellite record before. NASA and the NOAA have yet to respond to these problems or even acknowledge my importance.

But worse we find out these satellites are using microwaves to measure ice! As an experiment I took a glass of ice and put it in a microwave oven. This of course proves nothing, but it does raise some questions. I figured that 30 seconds in the microwave oven would be at least equivalent to 30 years of satellite microwaving. Well my microwave didnt tell me how thick the ice was (of course immune from Team Science I never thought it would), but I did observe the microwaves melting ice.


So is in fact arctic ice decline being caused by sustained subjection of arctic ice by microwave radiation emitted from NASA satellites? Is NASA literally cooking the books (ie ice)?
Is it a coincidence that satellite "measurements" of sea ice and temperature both began in 1979, the year in which Jimmy Carter resumed diplomatic relations with the Peoples Republic of China?

Proposal

I am only concerned that the reputation of science will be harmed for decades. That and taxes.

I propose to salvage science we must abandon the lunacy of the satellites. Measuring from so far in space is prone to manipulation. A blog scientist cannot go check on the satellites themselves can they? We have no idea what codes and adjustments they have loaded aboard those bloated machines. We should go back to the tried and tested method of deploying
fleets of surfacing submarines to measure arctic ice thickness.

Clarification: Despite what the NSIDC claim, real scientists would never use masks.

Update: In the comments Lars Karlsson points out that

"There is already extensive research proving beyond any doubt that microwaves from satellites cause global warming!"
I havent read that site enough to bank my reputation on its concusions, but it does show that the debate over the use of satellites and their role in "warming" certainly isnt over.




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Saturday, February 11, 2017

No Im not back back I just wanna tell you about this Citi Bike post

No Im not back back I just wanna tell you about this Citi Bike post


Hi!  Just poking my head out of the vacation hole for a moment to bring you this announcement:

As Citi Bike continues to begrime New York City by expanding its service area further uptown and deeper into Brooklyn, Ive been visiting these neighborhoods and showcasing the top-notch Cat 6-ing opportunities now on offer to my fellow bike share enthusiasts.  To that end, on a rainy day not too long ago, I flitted back and forth across Central Park and the East and West Sides of Manhattan.  Here is the resultant post, which just popped up on their blog:

Should you find yourself in town over the Labor Day weekend let this serve as your template for a cultural binge.

And with that, Im returning to the recesses of my vacation hole, and Ill see you all back here on Tuesday, September 6th with regular updates.  (Assuming I can find my way out, that is.)

Happy Whatever,


--Wildcat Rock Machine


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