The Burning Flame of Cyber-Warfare

Looks like another super-virus has been discovered, this time having been on the loose for over two years (beginning in 2010). This 20mb virus, compared to the 500kb Stuxnet, will take much longer to analyze and reverse engineer than it’s lightweight predecessor. Flame appears to be a gatherer of information specifically able to lift information from email inboxes, record audio from computer microphones, access Bluetooth communications, log keystrokes, and take screenshots of computer operations like instant messaging.

Like Stuxnet the dominant majority of infections are again located in Iran.  A very interesting thing about Flame is that it was coded in the Lua programming language which is commonly used to write code for games like Angry Birds.  Because of this interesting choice by the engineers of Flame it has led to two different “schools of thought”: 

“Some say Flame's authors were being exceedingly clever by using an unusual programming language to develop a deadly piece of malware in an attempt to confuse hi-tech security systems.

Others say those behind the superbug were amateurs who did little to do much to cover their tracks.”

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152757/Was-flame-virus-written-gamers-Code-similar-apps-Angry-Birds.html)

Good, short article on Flame: http://www.pcworld.com/article/256508/the_flame_virus_your_faqs_answered.html

An awesome, thorough article about Flame and Stuxnet before it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/warnings-about-flame-virus-come-amid-suspicions-of-us-role-in-launching-secret-cyberweapons/2012/06/02/gJQAEQTx8U_story.html

-It is in this article where it details the New York Times article that outlined that the Obama administration had oversight of the Stuxnet operation that had started during the Bush administration: (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/world/middleeast/obama-ordered-wave-of-cyberattacks-against-iran.html?pagewanted=all)  <—AWEsome details about U.S. involvement

7 April 2011

On a Thursday during the spring of last year Palestinian militants launched an anti-tank rocket at a school bus.  All of the children had already been dropped off except for one.  Sixteen year-old Daniel Viflic was struck in the head by metal shrapnel and died 10 days later.

I felt so sad and even cried as I read this story.  It absolutely broke my heart to hear of such a terrible thing to happen to a 16-year-old boy.  As I went about my day on that Thursday afternoon (acknowledging the time difference) there was an Israeli boy fighting for his life after having been shot at by angry men.

“What can men do against such reckless hate?”

Aragorn’s response to King Theoden’s exasperated plea I believe is very timely for us:  “Ride out and meet them”.  I have recently had an involved discussion on the matters of the foreign policies of the United States with one of my co-workers.  I believe our only option to preserve our own safety and others is to “carry a large stick”.  Sometimes we may forget the first part of the West African proverb coined by Theodore Roosevelt: speak softly.  If there is something I think our country should change is to speak softer.  In addition to the obvious, this principle would also include not supporting or attempting to change the entire world through U.S. influence, military or otherwise.

We have plenty of good things to offer the world through our example as a God-fearing, law-abiding, and responsible State.  We got this.

Stuxnet

I am quite behind in hearing and researching about this mind-blowing, weaponized virus.  I first heard about it in my Internet Security class this semester and was today shown a short video that is a great introduction to Stuxnet, what it is and what it accomplished.  Watch this:

For those of you who want to watch more on Stuxnet, here is a longer video that is insanely amazing (originally aired on 60 Minutes):

Jokari: the bringer of fun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have had the great pleasure of rediscovering this wonderful game I purchased for $1.99 at the Ames Goodwill years ago.  I got it back out on my birthday and found that it really was an amazing game.  So much so that when the original ball that had become brittle and hardened over the years cracked open I set out to find a replacement.  After trying to fashion one of my own I turned to the community and found a very reasonably priced ball with two new elastic strings from a guy in Delaware. (http://www.donaldsauter.com/jokari.htm)

We are again enjoying playing Jokari in our parking lot whenever we have a few extra minutes.  Below is a diagram from Donald’s site that I liked:

                              block
  Front court                \
      - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  Back court

                              O         
                          0__/            0
                         /                /  | \
                        /\               O  | 
                                             |\
            Player  A  
                                        Player B

It works better than you can even imagine.

The Sabbath Best

Just another Sunday meal.  We had grill blackened tilapia, cajun seasoned potatoes, and sautéed dill carrots.  Served along side a tall glass of our in-house kiwi strawberry Kool-Aid and you’ve got yourself a great meal.

the always expanding “Best Music OATS”

(Of All Time and Space)                     

It’s rare that a song comes along and in less than a day or so earns a spot on the prestigious Kyle Griffith’s Best Music OATS list.  White Lies has accomplished this feat in the song “Bigger Than Us”, which music video you can view below.

The Best Music OATS has been a work in progress since I returned from California.  It currently weighs in at 56 songs.  These select tracks are sometimes forgotten and in many cases never heard in mainstream music.  Others have been heard on radio stations and sold thousands of albums.  The end all requirement to make the list is simply to be good enough to listen to 10-20 times within 24 hours of first hearing.  At that point if you still want to listen to it again the next day, it’s OATS material.

P.S.  My wife /is/ wonderful.  (She quickly identified that this video had direct reference to the movie E.T.)

Epic Sax Guy

Oh my, I had a /lot/ of laughs at this one.  Enough that I determined to go as the “Epic Sax Guy” for this years Halloween.  I already have the blue skinny jeans!

Ten hours of “baap, baapdoobiedoobaabaap, baapdoobiedoobaabaaPAA”!

The Bounteous Feast

The Hunger Games movie review

I must say, I must say -- I had heard good reviews about The Hunger Games before going to a belated matinee this afternoon.  It was there that I found the cinema equivalent of a thirst-quenching oasis in the vast parched desert that is the current entertainment business.  With more past movies being released in theaters every year (i.e. Star Wars Episode I, Titanic), as good as they were and are, The Hunger Games brought it’s A-game in a fresh, crisp way.

Because few people really enjoy a full, in-depth review of a movie I will succinctly describe why this movie did it for me:

• newish talent (Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen) mixed with the more experienced (Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and Donald Sutherland as President Snow)

Katniss was great.  Cinna was perfect.  Caesar Flickerman was awesome.  He even pulled off the blue hair(if only just barely).

• a very tasteful score that was not only unique but elegantly used, composed by one of my favorites, James Newton Howard
• the one negative I had in mind going into the movie was the “on-fire” scene -- though potentially a corny special-effects flop I thought it was tasteful and, for me, the music and overall excitement of the scene sold it
• though music was used to punctuate the happenings on screen there were many whole scenes with out an ounce of music, especially in and near the beginning of the movie
• honor paid to the book -- even with much changed and whole parts removed the movie paid its dues and was rewarded with a well paced and balanced story

-  I know I’m getting older but at times I thought the camera was jostled a tad too much in some of the more tense scenes

All in all: it was great.  I wish I had taken my notebook to jot down some scribbles but these were the things that stood out to me.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s probably close to moving to the dollar theater, but I didn’t feel cheated out of a matinee price.

John Cusack

For those of you who haven't seen "Say Anything" starring John Cusack, then you should spend the effort to do so.

After viewing this movie, the next morning I had three songs in my head, all in the same instant:

1. Good Charlotte - Say Anything (understandably)
2. Cindy Lauper - Time After Time (from the era of the movie,  hitting #1 on U.S Billboard Charts in 1984, while the movie appeared in theaters in 1989)
3. Hawthourne Heights - Nikki FM (shares a destinctly similar line that's portrayed in the movie)

For those of you who haven't heard these songs, then you should spend the effort to do so.

the NAU, Super-highway, and Bush

[for those of you who didn't get my email, i'm posting it here.]

plainly: the NAU (North American Union, for those who didn't watch the video or read any other sources) along with the NAFTA super-highway ( http://www.spp.gov/myths_vs_facts.asp ) is a conspiracy running rampant on the internet and is notably perpetuated by the Ron Paul campaign. tracing the NAU back to it's orgin you'll find Jerome Corsi as it's primary founder, who to me appears to be a radical, though conservative, who uses extreme ideas to high-jack his way into popularity.

it's amazing how no evidence there is behind this grand occurrence, that is supposed to be the biggest news of the century. i've been away from standard television for long enough to have forgotten how little CNN actually has behind their "investigations" and "reports". watch lou dobbs and his sidekick talk about nothing for 3:42: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H65f3q_Lm9U&NR=1 listen past their taglines and phrases that they try to pass off as fact. they try to paint a picture with no evidence. seriously, there is no basis but a conspiracy.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/25/america/25Amero.php
this has good insight into the overall picture if anyone wants to read more than conspiracy reports that belong on the level of Exposing the Reptilians ( http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/exposing_reptilians.htm ) or the Time Cube Doctrine ( http://www.timecube.com/ )

-Ender

ps- i also assign this ridiculous attempt at fact to the Bush-hating that has gone out of control. it's amazing what people will try to believe when Bush is involved.

pps- "The NAU may be the quintessential conspiracy theory for our time, according to scholars studying what the historian Richard Hofstadter famously called the "paranoid style" in American politics. The theory elegantly weaves old fears and new realities into one coherent and all-encompassing plan, and gives a glimpse of where, politically, many Americans are right now: alarmed over immigration, worried about globalization, and - on both sides of the partisan divide - suspicious of the Bush administration's expansive understanding of executive power.

The belief in an imminent North American Union, says Mark Fenster, a law professor at the University of Florida and author of a 2001 book on conspiracy theories, "reflects the particular ways in which Americans feel besieged economically, powerless politically, and alienated socially."
-http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/25/america/25Amero.php