Another interesting scenario….

I was taught this year that when people come into your space it is because they want something from you.

I had another person appear out of nowhere…and when I asked, “Why?” The answer was….”Efficient Cause.”

Gino Angelo Castiglione

           2. the reason or motive for some human action: The good news was a cause for rejoicing.

           3. good or sufficient reason: to complain without cause; to be dismissed for cause.

 Law.

            a. a ground of legal action; the matter over which a person goes to law.

           b. a case for judicial decision.

           5. any subject of discussion or debate.

           6. a principle, ideal, goal, or movement to which a person or group is dedicated: the Socialist cause; the human rights cause.

           7. the welfare of a person or group, seen as a subject of concern: support for the cause of the American Indian.

         Philosophy.

           a. the end or purpose for which a thing is done or produced.

           b

 Aristotelianism. any of the four things necessary for the movement or the coming into being of a thing, namely a material (material cause), something to act upon it (efficient cause), a form taken by the movement or development (formal cause), and a goal or purpose (final cause).

 9.

 to be the cause of; bring about.

—Idiom

 10.

 make common cause, to unite in a joint effort; work together for the same end: They made common cause with neighboring countries and succeeded in reducing tariffs.

Main Entry: cause
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: caused; caus·ing
1 : to serve as the cause of causing injuries for which she sues —Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Company, 162 N.E.99 (1928)>
2 : to effect by command, authority, or force cause an investigation to be made

Just in time for your holiday shopping… the gang at Tulip Frenzy World HQ has voted.   The best albums of 2009 were:

1.  Sonic Youth    ”The Eternal”

They are not young, though they’re certainly youthful, and while some of Sonic Youth’s most devoted fans would recoil at this judgment, Tulip Frenzy thinks 2006’s Rather Ripped and this year’s The Eternal are the best records they’ve released since the mid-’80s.  Incredibly sharp, able to turn on a silver dime, Sonic Youth have still got the basic formula of punk rock punctuated by sudden aural entropy.  Beat that.  And this year, no one could.

2. Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound  ”When Sweet Sleep Returned”

We have asked ourselves if this is love on the rebound, if the reason we were so drawn to the second Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound album is because the other bestest neo-psychedelic band in the land, First Communion After Party, failed to release an album this year.  But it’s not true.  When Sweet Sleep Returned is equal parts spectacular San Fran guitar attack and dreamy loveliness.  This is a band that can rock as hard as The Warlocks, and then pivot to an interlude of, well, inter-’ludes. This one filled our head with sunburst and other sounds throughout much of the summer and fall.

3.    Robyn Hitchcock   “Goodnight Oslo”

Yes, we’d probably enjoy Robyn Hitchcock singing an entomology textbook, and sometime over the past 30 years that he’s beguiled us, we probably have.  That he’s never sounded more self-assured, that his band has Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey playing in it, that(for the most part) he actually dropped the irony and insect bit to sing incredibly punchy pop songs wound ’round the twanging Byrdsy lead guitar he’s been brandishing since the Soft Boys rendered this Frequent Spinner Miles on our office playlist.

4.  Neko Case   “Middle Cyclone”

Here’s how important Neko Case is: because she wanted to push her own album this year, two of our favorite bands — The New Pornographers and Calexico — essentially sat the year out, the former because without Neko, why play?  the latter because they were backing her up.  Forget Neko’s pipes, her incredibly loud tomboy holler, this is a songwriter in the Flannery O’Connor tradition.  Middle Cyclone is a career highlight, and what a career this is proving to be, parked in the middle of the base path between alt.country and the hippest rock around, daring someone to tag her out.

5.  Reigning Sound   “Love And Curses”

It didn’t top their imperfectly heralded masterpiece, Time Bomb High School, but the Reigning Sound’s Love and Curses had me the moment I realized Greg Cartwright’s my favorite rock singer probably since John Lennon.  Just thinking about how a garage band laboring in the grease and sawdust of Asheville, NC could put out a record that spans the whole of rock’n'roll, with a dollop of blue-eyed soul, a sprinkle of punk, and a scoche of roots rock for good measure unpacked smiles wherever they were heard.

6.  Tinariwen  ”Imidiwan: Companions”

We’re still trying to fathom how the most compelling Delta blues band we’ve heard since the Jelly Roll Kings conquered Arkansas could have emerged from the Touareg lands of Mali, but by now Tinariwen has figured out how to mix the village singalong with the ululations of the women folk atop an undulating beat that feels like you’re hanging on to a fast camel.  Never expected to spend this much time listening to music from the Sahara.  We’re glad we did, even if they may be a Khaddafian plot more diabolical than his hiring Italian models just to listen to him read the Koran.

7.  The Decembrists  ”The Hazards Of Love”

We got over the need for concept albums around the time the Kinks stopped touring behind Preservation, but in another cultural mashup, The Decembrists, citizens of Portland, Oregon, released the best British folk album since Fotheringay.  Awfully pretty, ambitious, and bold, the only grabbing of the stereo dial this prompted when it came on in the car was to turn the volume up.

8.  Pearl Jam   “Backslider”

What does it say about music in Anno Domini 2009 that the finest punk rock extant was from Pearl Jam?  We are as sincere as they are; we’ve never been snide about these guys, and do not put irony on a higher shelf than straightforwardness, of which they’ve also carried a copious supply.  Apparently, boys just want to have fun, and it really sounded like they did making this excellent return to form.

9.  Wilco “Wilco”

Wilco, the album, was a bit of a let down for Wilco, the band.  But even when they miss the mark, they hit the spot, with an album that sounded like master musician Nels Cline wasn’t too proud to invoke his inner Wilbury.  Look, we expect something more from a band that, since 2001’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, has been in a league of their own. As it is, Wilco, the album, kept up the streak of us playing Wilco, the band for half the year’s weeks, and when you think about it, dominating 26 weeks of any given year for this long is like Threepeating the NBA Finals or something.

10.  Cracker  ”Sunrise In The Land of Milk and Honey”

It’s not the soft spot we have for David Lowery that got this one clinging to the bottom rung of Tulip Frenzy’s Top Ten list.  Sure, after listening to enough Pearl Jam, you might want some irony, and Lowery’s served it up in spades, both in this Southern combo and among their West Coast brethren, Camper Van Beethoven.  The actual irony is just how much that Pearl Jam album reminded us of the near-equal grip Cracker has on those punkrock power chords.  You can’t have too much fun, and we thank the Lord on a regular interval that this too is Cracker’s attitude.

Encore une autre invention absolument nécessaire pour toute personne ayant 20 dollars à dépenser.

Dans la catégorie Ils ne savent plus quoi inventer, voici le EZ Cracker, où comment casser des oeufs sans se faire chier.

Personnellement, quand t’es pas capable de casser un oeuf, tu ne mérites même pas de rentrer dans une cuisine. Et puis, je veux pas faire mon macho (paraît que c’est un blogue macho, ici) mais dans la pub c’est juste des filles qui cassent les oeufs tout croches. C’est pas moi qui le dit, c’est la télé.

Bah, moi je l’achèterai juste pour le Bacon Wave, qu’ils donnent en supplément. Je vous ai déjà parlé de mon amour pour le bacon??

You wouldn’t know it to look at me, but I love a good hard rock song as much as the next tat-covered metal-head.  I have always struggled to control my foul temper and there is something about the pure expression of raw anger in many hard rock songs that I love.  I’m pissed off – and so are they!

As you’ll see, many of the songs on this list are by “the usual suspects,” but I have tried to pick songs from these bands that are a little less obvious.  “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a brilliant hard rock song, but you already knew that, so what’s the point of putting it on my list?  OK, then, dear reader, please turn your amplifier up to 11 and let’s kick it…

• Nirvana, “Lithium” – These guys changed it all, didn’t they?  The hilarious thing is that “Nevermind” knocked off Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” to become the #1 album in America.  With all due respect to the King of Pop, Kurt Cobain was dangerous.  “Lithium” is classic Nirvana…Slow, then crunchingly fast, then slow, then fast.  Toward the end, Cobain screams, “I like it, I’m not gonna crack/I miss you, I’m not gonna crack/I love you, I’m not gonna crack/I kill you, I’m not gonna crack.”  Is it any wonder he eventually cracked?   
• Cracker, “Low” – Whatever happened to these guys?  Who cares, they left us with this amazing single, which includes this lyric: “I’ll be with you, girl/Like being low/Hey, hey, hey/It’s like being stoned.”  I’ve never been stoned, but I’ve been low, baby. 
• Smasing Pumpkins, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” – Is there a better voice in rock than Billy Corrigan’s?  Not when he sings this lyric: “Despite all my rage/I am still just a rat in a cage.”  Yes, Billy.  Me, too.
• Rage Against the Machine, “Guerilla Radio“ – Yes, yes, I know.  I AM the machine. But I can bite the hand that feeds me, can’t I?  Actually, this song takes the hand, rips it from the arm, chews it up, and spits it into a gutter.  The menacingly whispered, “It has to start somewhere/It has to start sometime/What better place than here/What better time than now,” leads to the repeatedly screamed, “All hell can’t stop us now.”  Oh, baby, turn that shit up.
• Metallica, “Enter Sandman” – This is the quintessential hard rock song, so I was tempted to pick another Metallica tune until I had the opportunity to attend Game Six of the World Series a few weeks ago.  They play this song when Yankee closer Mariano Rivera jogs out from the bullpen to the mound and it was EPIC.  52,000 people banging their heads.  Say your prayers, Phillies, you won’t be with us much longer. 
• Silverchair, “Tomorrow” – I can’t name another Silverchair song, but this one kicks ass, Fatboy.  Here’s a lyric that always makes me think of my ex-wife: “You say that money isn’t everything/But I’d like to see you live without it/You think you can keep on going, living like a king,/Ooh babe, but I strongly doubt it.”  She actually HAS kept on living like a king, but, oh, well.  Maybe tomorrow…
• Foo Fighters, “Monkeywrench” – How do you go from being the drummer of Nirvana to the front man of another kick-ass hard rock band?  I don’t know, ask Dave Grohl.  This song is about being gay (I think), but it really hits on all of the classic hard rock themes – not fitting in, persecution, and just being absolutely ripshit about the whole thing.  Take a deep breath and sing along with this lyric: “One last thing before I quit I never wanted any more than I could fit into my head I still remember every single word you said and all the shit that somehow came along with it still there’s one thing that comforts me since I was always caged and now I’m free.”  Remember, you need to save up enough air so that you can scream the word “free” for about 20 minutes.

I realize that I am missing several worthy artists: Guns-n-Roses, Pearl Jam, Van Halen, and Def Leppard, to name just a few. But I am out of time, and so are you.  Please add your ear-bleeding suggestions to the list.

Se você usa GNU/Linux e está cansado de colocar seus pendrives em máquinas Windows infectadas com vírus, e depois ter de formatá-las constantemente, SEUS PROBLEMAS ACABARAM!!!

Uma ótima dica de Fabiano Caixeta Duarte, postada no site Dicas-L, ensina como fazer para proteger seus pendrivres usando um pequeno script que você pode copiar e colar em um arquivo de texto.

Você pode até oferecer o serviço de “limpesa e proteção de pendrives” para seus amigos e conhecidos que usam Windows. A solução do Fabiano, segundo o próprio, não só identifica e remove o vírus, como impede que o pendrive seja infectado novamente. Abaixo, o início do texto do Fabiano, mas o resto você vai ter de ler no Dicas-L. Vale a pena dar uma lida no texto disponível em: http://www.dicas-l.com.br/dicas-l/20091007.php.

Dispositivos USB de armazenamento de massa (pendrives), amplamente utilizados nos computadores pessoais e corporativos, são frequentemente infectados por vírus executáveis em sistemas operacionais da Microsoft.

…

Até onde pude observar, os vírus de pendrive se aproveitam do mecanismo de execução automática (AutoRun/AutoPlay) presente em sistemas operacionais da Microsoft. Este mecanismo utiliza um arquivo chamado autorun.inf que é lido no momento em que uma mídia removível é montada pelo sistema operacional.

Uma das informações constantes do arquivo autorun.inf é a localização absoluta do arquivo infectado dentro do pendrive.

O Papavírus identifica o arquivo infectado e o remove, bem como remove o arquivo autorun.inf. Além disto, para evitar que o pendrive seja infectado novamente, o papavírus aplica um simulacro de vacina que consiste na criação de um diretório autorun.inf que recebe os atributos oculto e somente leitura. A existência deste diretório impede que um vírus crie um arquivo com o mesmo nome, proporcionando uma espécie de imunização.

Older than your last car and still going strong

Bucketfull of Brains, that is.

The new issue is out! My reviews include the new efforts from Cheap Trick, Ian Hunter, Cracker and Muck and the Mires. No features from me this time, but check out these gems from my mates:

• Lucky Soul: ‘It sounds like the Supremes, but inside out. Surely you understand that?!’ Interview by Terry Hermon
• John Wesley Harding: Then, now, and whenever. Wesley Stace speaks to Nick West
• ‘I never travel far without a little Big Star’ Simon Wright hears the box set, sees the band in Hyde Park, and converses with John Fry, Jody Stephens and Alex Chilton.
• ‘We oppose all rock’n’roll’. Phil King hears from Rob Symmons of Subway Sect and Fallen Leaves about 1976, how the Sect formed, and the 100 Club Festival (with unseen pics of the Sex Pistols).
• Mavericks In Maturity. Jeremy Gluck talks to Peter Holsapple about working with Chris Stamey again

All that plus a ton of news and reviews and some great pictures. So head on over to the Bucketfull of Brains site, nab a subscription (or try a single issue) and enjoy the wonder of a great print magazine – music’s endangered species!

Atenção: Os fatos descritos no vídeo não ocorrem em sistemas Unix-like, como GNU/Linux, Free BSD, Open BSD e Mac OS.

Hey Ya’ll! 

Thought I would check out the group Cracker and the video for their new single ”Friends” featuring Patterson Hood.  Not being real familiar with the band itself, (17 years and 8 albums- one platinum and three gold) my first impression was “well that guy sounds like Tom Petty”… but after further inspection I concluded it wasn’t.    Hilarious, fun, sing-along song that talks about the “disadvantages” of being a good ol’ friend, amongst other things!  The video itself is amazingly simple filmed in  black and white.  I have always said black and white makes ANYONE look good!    I give this video a 4.

Check out the video @

Cracker feat. Patterson Hood – Friends
Download Music Video Code at www.yallwire.com

Country Rocks!

JW

Pour cause de changement de site cliquez ici pour voir cet article !

Pour cause de changement de site cliquez ici pour voir cet article !

They waited until November, but there’s the freakin’ country music song of the year. Love the sound of the recording too, and the killer lead guitar lines. Buh-rilliant.  Cracker and Patterson Hood team up to blend their stuff together.  And it works.

Au cours des dernières décennies le « hacking » a été beaucoup discuté dans les médias. Mais le piratage fait partie du monde de l’informatique depuis l’apparition des premiers ordinateurs, dans les années 1960. Le terme de « hacker » est souvent connoté négativement dans les médias, tandis que dans le monde internet, il s’agit tout simplement d’un expert, brillant, en informatique. La plupart des hackers sont des programmeurs, hautement qualifiés (tel Linus Torvalds, le développeur de Linux).

Hackers vs. Crackers, une bataille entre pirates

Le mot « hacking » possède, en réalité, une double facette. D’un côté se trouve les hackers, ces pirates qui aident à trouver et combler les lacunes des logiciels (comme Microsoft). Leurs racines remontent au temps des mini-ordinateurs à exploitation partagée et des premières tentatives du réseau ARPAnet. Ils sont eux-mêmes à l’origine du terme hacker. Etre hacker ne se résume pas à être un pro de l’informatique, encore faut-il adhérer aux valeurs de la communauté. Ces valeurs sont fortes car souvent érigées en règles. Ils insistent notamment sur les notions de partage, de collaboration, d’enseignement, et de liberté du Web pour un accès égal pour tous. Sur la base de ces valeurs, de nombreux logiciels libres ont fleuri sur le Web (GNU/Linux, BSD, Firefox, …). Des hackerspaces ont également vu le jour, comme en France le http://www.tmplab.org/. Il s’agit d’espace de rassemblement de hackers grâce auxquels ils construisent en commun des objets, des programmes. Les hackers sont, en définitive, à l’origine de l’Internet, ce sont eux qui le font vivre. Ils sont à la base de l’innovation et de grandes avancées technologiques.

A l’opposé se trouve un groupe de personnes qui se sont autoproclamées hackers. Les vrais hackers les nomment les « crackers ». Ces personnes exploitent les failles des logiciels, prennent plaisir à pirater les systèmes téléphoniques afin de s’introduire à distance dans les ordinateurs. Ce sont ces hackers là qui ont mis au point et propagé les virus informatiques.

La différence fondamentale entre les deux groupes de pirates informatiques est que les hackers construisent des choses, les crackers les détruisent.

Si les hackers comprennent bien et soutiennent le fait de sanctionner les crackers, ils sont aujourd’hui très mobilisés, en France, contre la loi Hadopi. En effet, ils considèrent que la loi est liberticide, ce qui n’est pas acceptable pour des personnes qui considèrent que l’Internet doit être un espace de liberté et de partage des connaissances. Aussi, les hackers se mobilisent et trouvent de nouvelles formes plus ou moins pacifistes de résistance, telle que le « black-out » du net, une opération  consistant à repeindre des sites en noir, à avoir des avatars noirs anti-hadopi. Pour l’instant la protestation contre la loi est mesurée, mais qui sait jusqu’où leur contestation peut aller…

Un retour sur les grandes dates du hacking est indispensable pour comprendre ce qu’est le hacking ainsi que les raison de sa mauvaise presse.

1960 – Le début du  piratage

Les hackers apparaissent d’abord au MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) aux États-Unis. Ils empruntent le terme « hack » d’un groupe d’étudiants qui travaillent à modifier la configuration de  trains miniatures à l’école  afin d’en augmenter la vitesse. Certains des membres de ce groupe se sont par la suite intéressés et passionnés pour le nouveau système informatique créé et développé par le MIT.

Les années 1970- piratages dans le monde de l’informatique

Le « phreaking », piratage des téléphones, s’est développé lorsque des individus ont découvert comment utiliser gratuitement les cabines téléphoniques. Le phreaking est né d’une expérience menée par JT Draper (alias Cap’n Crunch) et J. Engressia, elle a abouti à la construction de la «boîte bleue». La « boîte bleue » contenait une flûte reproduisant les différents tons utilisés par la compagnie de téléphone permettant ainsi d’ouvrir une ligne illégale. A la fin des années 1970, le phreaking migre vers le monde de l’informatique. A cette date est créé le premier système de messages électroniques (BBS). BBS devient rapidement un lieu de rencontre des pirates, où ils peuvent partager des conseils, des mots de passe volés.

Les années 1980 – Le hacking crée un débat médiatique

Une communauté se crée. De nombreux groupes se forment et sont aussi très rapidement pourchassés par le FBI. Parmi les tous premiers groupes figurent le Chaos Computer Club, établi en Allemagne, ou encore le 414S, aux États-Unis.

En 1984, les hackers deviennent des criminels suite à l’adoption de la première loi condamnant le crime informatique, aux Etats-Unis. A la fin de la Guerre Froide, en 1989, et malgré la loi américaine, le premier cas de cyber-espionnage est révélé (des hackers d’Allemagne de l’Ouest avaient pénétré les ordinateurs du gouvernement américain et de compagnies), attirant pour la première fois l’attention de l’ensemble de la communauté internationale.

Les années 1990 –  Hacking en pleine floraison

Les années 1990 sont celles de l’expansion du phénomène du hacking, ainsi que celle de ses excès et de sa répression. De nombreuses affaires de fraudes de cartes de crédit et de piratages téléphoniques éclatent (Sundevil Operation, le cas Kevin Poulsen). Ces scandales provoquent une rupture dans la communauté des hackers. Les services secrets se mettent à la poursuite de ces nouveaux criminels.

Mais cette même année, Internet décolle et l’information est rendue plus accessible grâce au nouveau navigateur Netscape Navigator. Les hackers désertent le système BBS et investissent rapidement Internet.

Le début des années 2000 –  une menace internationale

Depuis lors, les attaques ne cessent de se multiplier. Elles sont efficaces, rapides (2006, le ver « I love you » a infecté en à peine quelques heures des millions d’ordinateurs dans le monde entier. Ce virus est aujourd’hui l’un des plus destructeurs), ciblées et les crackers s’attaquent ne craignent pas s’attaquer à des sites comme celui de la Défense américaine, ou de la Bank of America, afin de voler de l’argent et des informations.

Holiday season is upon us.  The Salvation Army bell ringers have set up on Wells by my apartment.  Christmas decorations fill the stores.  Thanksgiving Menus are being finalized and shopping lists created.  For the first time in my life I am getting to enjoy the holidays without finals looming, outlines to write and papers/memos to finalize.  Needless to say, I’m feeling the holiday cheer.  I’m sure that you have read about people’s turkey methods, pumpkin pie masterpieces and creative uses for the cranberry.  However, I am hear to tell you about a simple recipe that you could whip up to have as munchies in the kitchen while cooking your feast.

I made a double batch of this Rosemary Flatbread a few weeks ago for a Halloween party but I think it would be a great thing to have around for the holidays.  It is simple to whip up and it is far more satisfying than anything that you could find in from a cracker box.  It would be perfect on a holiday hors d’oeurves table or just around to munch on while cooking.  I did use my pizza stone to cook them up on the oven.  If you make pizza (from a box or homemade) with any kind of regularity, a stone is a great investment.  Throw it on your holiday wish list.

Rosemary Flatbread (printable recipe)

Recipe adapted from Gourmet

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary plus 2 (6-inch) sprigs

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup olive oil plus more for brushing

Flaky sea salt or kosher

Preheat oven to 450°F with a pizza stock or heavy baking sheet on rack in middle.

Stir together flour, chopped rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in center, then add water and oil and gradually stir into flour with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. Pour dough onto a well floured work surface and knead dough gently 4 or 5 times.

Divide dough into 3 pieces and roll out 1 piece on a sheet of parchment paper into a 10-inch round. It doesn’t need to be perfect because the flatbread looks rustic but make sure its thin.

Lightly brush top with additional olive oil and scatter small clusters of rosemary leaves on top, pressing in slightly. Sprinkle with sea salt. Slide round (still on parchment) onto preheated pizza stone or baking sheet and bake until pale golden and browned in spots, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer flatbread (discard parchment or save for use for another batch like I did) to a rack to cool, then make 2 more rounds (1 at a time) on fresh parchment (do not oil or salt until just before baking). Break into pieces. Try not to eat all at once, which will be difficult.

Flatbread can be made 2 days ahead and cooled completely, then kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

Hacker (peretas) memang sosok yang banyak menuai kontroversi. Makna Hacker itu sendiri bisa bermacam-macam, sesuai perubahan zaman. Berikut ini merupakan sejarah perkembangan hacker :

” Terminologi peretas muncul pada awal tahun 1960-an diantara para anggota organisasi mahasiswa Tech Model Railroad Club di Laboratorium Kecerdasan Artifisial Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Kelompok mahasiswa tersebut merupakan salah satu perintis perkembangan teknologi komputer dan mereka berkutat dengan sejumlah komputer mainframe. Kata bahasa Inggris “hacker” pertama kalinya muncul dengan arti positif untuk menyebut seorang anggota yang memiliki keahlian dalam bidang komputer dan mampu membuat program komputer yang lebih baik daripada yang telah dirancang bersama.

Kemudian pada tahun 1983, istilah hacker mulai berkonotasi negatif. Pasalnya, pada tahun tersebut untuk pertama kalinya FBI menangkap kelompok kriminal komputer The 414s yang berbasis di Milwaukee, Amerika Serikat. 414 merupakan kode area lokal mereka. Kelompok yang kemudian disebut hacker tersebut dinyatakan bersalah atas pembobolan 60 buah komputer, dari komputer milik Pusat Kanker Memorial Sloan-Kettering hingga komputer milik Laboratorium Nasional Los Alamos. Satu dari pelaku tersebut mendapatkan kekebalan karena testimonialnya, sedangkan 5 pelaku lainnya mendapatkan hukuman masa percobaan.

Kemudian pada perkembangan selanjutnya muncul kelompok lain yang menyebut-nyebut diri sebagai peretas, padahal bukan. Mereka ini (terutama para pria dewasa) yang mendapat kepuasan lewat membobol komputer dan mengakali telepon (phreaking). Peretas sejati menyebut orang-orang ini cracker dan tidak suka bergaul dengan mereka. Peretas sejati memandang cracker sebagai orang malas, tidak bertanggung jawab, dan tidak terlalu cerdas. Peretas sejati tidak setuju jika dikatakan bahwa dengan menerobos keamanan seseorang telah menjadi peretas.

Para peretas mengadakan pertemuan tahunan, yaitu setiap pertengahan bulan Juli di Las Vegas. Ajang pertemuan peretas terbesar di dunia tersebut dinamakan Def Con. Acara Def Con tersebut lebih kepada ajang pertukaran informasi dan teknologi yang berkaitan dengan aktivitas peretasan.

Peretas memiliki konotasi negatif karena kesalahpahaman masyarakat akan perbedaan istilah tentang hacker dan cracker. Banyak orang memahami bahwa peretaslah yang mengakibatkan kerugian pihak tertentu seperti mengubah tampilan suatu situs web (defacing), menyisipkan kode-kode virus, dan lain-lain, padahal mereka adalah cracker. Cracker-lah yang menggunakan celah-celah keamanan yang belum diperbaiki oleh pembuat perangkat lunak (bug) untuk menyusup dan merusak suatu sistem. Atas alasan ini biasanya para peretas dipahami dibagi menjadi dua golongan: White Hat Hackers, yakni hacker yang sebenarnya dan cracker yang sering disebut dengan istilah Black Hat Hackers.” Sumber : http://id.wikipedia.org

Ada semacam romantisme kenakalan remaja pada budaya hacker. Napas-napas pemberontakan yang memikat, sama memikatnya seperti Jim Morisson, Che Guevara, Soe Hok Gie, Chairil Anwar, Iwan Fals, atau Eminem. Romantisme tersebut berasal dari idealisme kebebasan dan rasa ingin tahu. Seperti tercermin dalam dokumen ‘The Conscience of a Hacker’ (Hati Nurani Seorang Hacker) yang dituliskan seorang bernama The Mentor. Berikut cuplikan dokumen yang kerap disebut ‘Manifesto Hacker’ :

Inilah dunia kami…dunia electron dan switch, beauty of the baud.

Kalian menyebut kami penjahat…

karena kami menggunakan layanan yang sudah ada tanpa membayar, padahal

layanan itu seharusnya sangat murah jika tidak dikuasai oleh orang-orang rakus.

Kami kalian sebut penjahat…

karena kami gemar menjelajah.

Kami kalian sebut penjahat…

karena kami mengejar ilmu pengetahuan.

Kami ada tanpa warna kulit, tanpa kebangsaan, tanpa bias agama..

Tapi bagi kalian kami penjahat. Kami adalah penjahat…sedangkan kalianlah yang membuat bom nuklir, mengobarkan peperangan, membunuh, berbuat curang, berbohong, dan berusaha membuat kami percaya bahwa itu semua demi kebaikan kami.

Ya, aku adalah penjahat. Kejahatanku adalah keingintahuanku. Kejahatanku adalah

menilai orang berdasarkan perkataan dan pikiran mereka, dan bukan berdasarkan penampilan mereka.

Kejahatannku adalah menjadi lebih pintar dari kalian, sebuah dosa yang tak akan bisa kalian ampuni. Aku adalah hacker, dan inilah menifestoku. Kau bisa menghentikan satu,tapi kau tak bisa menghentikan semuanya…bagaimanapun juga, kami semua sama.

(The Mentor,1986)

Untuk mengetahui lebih jauh tentang hacker dan cracker anda bisa membaca buku DI BALIK KISAH – KISAH HACKER LEGENDARIS. Download ebooknya disini.

Semoga melalui buku tersebut pembaca dapat melihat hacker secara utuh dan memahaminya tanpa prasangka lagi. Bahkan etos hacker sebenarnya merupakan sesuatu yang layak untuk diterapkan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, selama koridor etikanya dipenuhi. Jadilah seorang hacker!

O cracker Douglas Havard, de 27 anos, conseguiu travar todos os computadores do complexo penitenciário de Ranby, na Inglaterra.

O cracker, preso por envolvimento com técnicas de phishing, tinha a missão de reprogramar as máquinas da penitenciária para criar a estação de TV interna da instituição.

Segundo o Sunday Mirror, os administradores, que delegaram a tarefa a Havard, pensaram que sua afinidade com tecnologia os ajudaria a acelerar o processo. Mas não foi o que aconteceu.

Sem supervisão, ele resolveu trocar todas as senhas de todas os PCs, impedindo os próprios administradores de logar em suas estações de trabalho. A instituição foi obrigada a contratar especialistas para resolver o problema.

Havard, que cumpre pena de seis anos, foi colocado na solitária como punição. A administração do presídio informou que a brecha de segurança está sendo investigada.

James Della Valle, de INFO Online

Quarta-feira, 30 de setembro de 2009 – 10h31.

Link da reportagem aqui.

I want to preface this blog hailing Larry David as a genius. I love him. I love him. I love him. I admit I was a bit worried with the plantation genre and the stereotypical ending in Season Six of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, but he managed to dodge that lingering bullet almost effortlessly in Season 7. Vivica A. Fox’s character Loretta Black  and Larry break up in the second episode of the season, “Vehicular Fellatio” and it had nothing to do with race. Larry was planning on dumping her because she got cancer. He is so unsympathetic and sympathetic you just have to love him.

So Larry’s project in Season 7 is winning his wife’s affection by letting her play the role of his actual wife in a “Seinfeld” reunion season. And everyone is on board. We get to see Julia play Elaine, Seinfeld play himself, Larry’s mirror image George Costanza, Jason Alexander ironically as Larry’s complete opposite….and there is….. Michael Richards….. as Kramer. Ehhhhhhhlllllllllllll.

the pink elephant in the room-racist richards

We know he had to be on the show to fulfill the myth of the reunion season, but there is just this bad taste in my mouth when I see him on screen. I’m sure most of you remember his infamous racial fuck-up. It was a fuck-up so bad it wasn’t even excusable. It was the fuck-up heard round the world, Lexington and Concord style.  Here’s a link to his comedy routine.

Okay I just watched it again I am pissed!!!! Arrggggh! When will it stop? Here are just a few unsettling savory bits:

“Fifty years ago we’d have you hanging upside down from a tree!”

“They’re going to arrest me for calling a black man a nigger?”

“Throw his ass out! He’s a nigger, He’s a nigger, He’s a nigger!”

oh LAWD

After a while the black man he was talking to called him a cracker, which I discuss in my earlier blog, is embedded with a notion of racial superiority on the part of the white person who is being called said name.

I’m not really sure what pissed Michael Richards off so much. But I am gonna assume it was some loud mouth Negroes, yeah I said it, talking too much during a performance which is why he told them to shut up. And yes, really my brothers and sisters, you know who you are, you need to stop talking through movies, it’s annoying. I wanted to cut a bitch the last time I was in the theater.

But there is no reason to say what Richards said. I mean come on. A good shut the fuck up would have sufficed. He didn’t need to offend everyone in the place. And he forgets, black folk actually paid to see him perform. I mean can you imagine, taking your lovely black boyfriend or girlfriend on a date to a comedy show, and thinking wow, we get to see the guy who played Kramer, I’m so excited, and while you’re sipping on your Long Island Iced Tea you get taken back to 1865 with some white dude talkin bout hanging niggers from trees. NIET KIEL DAWG.

Hence, the icky taste in my mouth. But in the last episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry addresses the issue of harboring a known racist on the show. He does this in three ways.

1. Michael Richards looks like crap compared to everyone else in the show. Even though everyone has aged, they still look the same. Maybe they have led healthy lives, maybe it’s the make-up job, but clearly they skipped over Richards. Additionally, the hair that made Kramer so noticeable is almost all but gone. Larry wants him to look that way. By presenting Richards as visually unattractive, his appearance clearly faltering since his racist comedy routine, Larry is reflecting on the accepted myth that sin is written on the body. (A topic heavily discussed in Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray and The Libertine)

if you hadn't been fucking all those whores, maybe God would have spared you leprosy

2. To reify this idea, Larry also gives Richards a life threatening illness, Groat’s disease(a fictional illness) that may cause his death. He is literally paying for the sins externally and internally that he committed when he pledged his allegiance to supremacy on that unforgettable day.

3. He cleverly has a scene with Leon and Richards, in which Richards has a valid reason to be pissed at Leon (he lied about his identity and duped him into giving $200,000). While he is screaming a crowd of people are watching Richards yell at this black man and we laugh because ironically he an actual reason to be pissed. It is really funny and makes it a bit more acceptable for Richards to be part of this season.

However, I recently read a blog, by the African American Environmentalist Association-Hollywood, and while I agree Larry made a smart move in the “The Table Read”, it really doesn’t redeem or reform Richards as a person. It only redeems Richards within the fictional world of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” that Larry himself has created. And then we have to think, well if Richards’ previous act of racism had to be addressed to us, how will it be addressed to the fictional audience that would be watching the Seinfeld reunion season? And, ignoring the fact that humor on a fictional show doesn’t excuse an act of racism in the real world, we were too busy laughing at the scene to deconstruct what it fails to address. When Richards says “if there were any word i could use to show how angry i am…,” David seems to be juxtaposing valid reasons to be pissed off (leon lying/getting 200g) against using racial slurs without a valid reason. But is there ever a valid reason to use racial slurs? And I say valid reason cuz clearly the heckling at his comedy show did not warrant “nigger,nigger, nigger”, but because Leon lies it might? And are we ignoring the real irony in this scene, that Richards could have “slipped up” again because Leon did what a white man told him, and most likely Leon had to lie because his livelihood (living in Larry’s mansion) depends on it?

Larry also depicts this representation in “The Anonymous Donor,” Season 6, when a dry-cleaner loses his baseball jersey. He then has Leon approach a man wearing the similar jersey(we don’t know if it is Larry’s or not) and from then on the white man Leon has robbed may engage in stereotyping of black men as criminals. But the crazy thing about it is that Leon himself didn’t care about the jersey, he stole the jersey because Larry, the white male, wanted him too. Is Larry making a statement, by having Leon bear the brunt of his iniquities, that blacks are unfairly stereotyped not by their own acts, but the acts that are guided by the white man. Basically, are whites are hating blacks because of whites. I mean that is why Richards gets pissed at Leon, Larry doesn’t take the rap for the incident, at least we don’t get to see it.

If so, whoa Larry, and Bravo, Bravo. I now love your show even more, can we be best friends?

Of course, it is not up to Larry David to rectify Richards fuck-up. He shouldn’t have to alter his whole season cuz Richards can’t keep his mouth shut. I think David makes amends to his avid black fans by at least addressing the issue, and I thank him for it. But Richards has a long way to go. A fictional confrontation on the issue will not redeem his racist soul. And although most black folk are forgiving, sorry Richards, you don’t get my vote.

Thoughts?

P.S.

J.B. Smoove on the scene with Michael Richards:

“I can’t see someone being so upset with it that they’d never want him to be on TV again. You can pass the blame along, or you can accept your responsibility, and he accepted his actions. Sometimes, when you get a girl pregnant, you blame the condom. His condom broke that night.”

I have never thought about cooking southern dishes, and to be honest, I haven’t done any research about southern style food. But this one for sure is one of them. Per request of my dear guest, I make this simple but flavorful dish with a little twist.

so, have you guys ever heard of ” Corned Beef and Cabbage” ? ? ?

dang dang! here it is!

well, not exactly the same as you would expected, but this is my version to stuff in more veggies and make it lighter for this dish.

This is the first time I heard about the dish, especially the corned beef makes me struggled quite a bit. Just finish watching the movie of “food Inc.” , anything corn related makes me feel fat for no reason….

Mix the corned beef, cabbage, and cubed potato together, (no salt added since the sodium in the corn beef is already 20% DV !

I stuff them in the halved red bell pepper, with some mozzarella cheese,  30 min at low 300 degrees. Done !!!

The juice comes from corned beef has savored the whole thing….especially potatoes, I haven’t had them for about one year! and they taste really good!!! For the roasted bell peppers, juicy and sweet, I love them!!!

the only thing is cabbage goes a bit dried out because of long time roasting….if you can cook the potatoes beforehand and stuff the mix in, maybe 15 min would be good enough .

re, re, re, re,…., sorry if I remind you of the email box!!!  ^_^ the rejuvenated cheese cracker???

yupp! I got some pure cheese cracker from coco yesterday (thx u !), they said they are made of 100% cheese….

hoooooray !! I am a CHEESE person, and I would love to have anything made of cheese – mild or sharp, whatever, anything related to milk just makes me happy

well, I tasted some of them, too much is not a good thing…the cracker is a bit oily, and way too salty for my taste buds….But as I never really toss food, I always think of ways to re-use them

So, for the whole day, I’ve been thinking of how to make them re-juvenate and exaggerate that cheese flavor….

suddenly the pumpkin cheese muffin from Starbucks pops in ….that was really something I remembered and marketed for a long time….

Yuppppy ! so I am gonna re-do the cheese cracker version pumpkin muffin !

I chopped the cheese crackers first and have some small ones for the tops.

The other ingredients:

1.  2 cup of self-raising flour ( I am almost done with that big bag ! )

2. 2 tsp of sugar.

3. 1 tsp of butter.

4. chopped cheese cracker ( about 1/2 cups).

5. 1 egg.

alright, i won’t bored you with the easy muffin making steps, just do it!

don’t forget to top with our little guys

350 Degree oven, 20 min.

Do you see the cheese melted on top of that muffin??? the inside has a subtle melted cheese flavor as well!!!!

I wish you were here to share with me this sweet treat

btw, that’s my BIG one bite of this cutie!

An uncredited actor playing the girlfriend of Fitz’s son shares a spliff with Mark in second season Cracker story ‘Men Should Weep’.

Disturbed lab technician Janice (Emily Joyce – the nurse girlfriend from My Hero!) finding that smoking helps her plot more fiendishly in Cracker story ‘True Romance’.

A last few of Susan Lynch as teen killer Tina, facing an interrogation from Fitz in Cracker story ‘To Say I Love You’.