Some people like Footy Tipping. Others… well um. You decide.

It seems we have an “Iraq Attack Pool” happening and current odds are favouring a March 3 War.

Link: http://www.thecarrot.com/iraqattack/default.asp

My new electric scooters arrived today!

I ended up with two thanks to a wee little stuff-up… I was bidding on ebay and thought there must be a way to bid “smarter”. I checked on Freshmeat and sure enough Jbidwatcher looked like it would do exactly what I was after.

It’s called “sniping”. You set the maximum you’re willing to pay and it doesn’t bid until within 30 seconds of the end of the auction – then it bids just enough to win and no one else gets a chance to bid past you. Mexcellent!

Problem is – I didn’t set it right… so I ended up winning two auctions! Not that it matters. Dad has been talking lots about electric scooters lately so I’ll surprise him with a nice red one.
Anyone, I put it together … the instructions say you should be over 14 but under 60kgs. Hrmm. skinny teenagers only then. I’m 90kgs now so it moved ok – but certainly not at the claimed 12km/h. A very smooth ride – if by smooth you mean you feel every single bump, crack and ant trail on the path… it has smallish skateboard style wheels that appear to amplify road conditions.

And it’s only a 100w motor.

But the idea is there. These things coukd be so damn convienient. Just a little bigger, better wheels and a little more powerful and I could see myself using it regularly. At this point – they’re very much still a toy.

Even so, if you’re skinny – you can get yourself a new one from ebay for under $200!

Jackpot is a ready-to-run SMTP relay honeypot, written in pure Java.

By running a relay honeypot on your computer, you can make a contribution to the battle against spam email. Jackpot enables you to submit accurately-aimed complaints, with detailed documentation accessible via a built-in web-server.

Jackpot is very entertaining to run – you can watch spam getting logged and then blackholed in real-time. You can examine the envelope (HELO) commands used to submit the spam to Jackpot, which is not possible using a simple spamtrap address. The details of spam-runs are saved in comma-delimited files, which you can analyse using simple tools.

Jackpot can also store captured spam-data in a single database shared by a community of co-operating honeypots.

I am running this on www.e3.com.au for ports 1080 and 3128 but had to disable port 25 as I need email on that box. It actually is fun to watch spammers get tangled up!

Link: http://jackpot.uk.net

AlterSlash ~ the unofficial SlashDot digest.

It’s a much better read than Slashdot itself. All the stories along with 5 of the highest scoring comments.

Now I’m never one to say I told you so… but I’ve lost 18kgs in 6 months thanks to a high protein / low carbohydrate diet.

The diet has given me so much energy I’m also working out 3 times a week now. My bodyfat has dropped to 15.3%, my cholesterol is at 5.1.

Those who criticise the diet really need to step back…. here’s the latest from Salon.

Nov. 18, 2002 | CHICAGO (AP) – Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too.

For years, the Atkins formula of sparing carbohydrates and loading up on taboo fatty foods has been blasphemy to many in the health establishment, who view it as a formula for cardiovascular ruin.

But now, some of the same researchers who long scoffed at the diet are putting it to the test, and they say the results astonish them. Rather than making cholesterol soar, as they feared, the diet actually appears to improve it, and volunteers take off more weight.

More at Salon

In Windows XP with all security patches applied to date ( 5 Sep 2002 ) there is a serious security flaw that will allow any malicious website to delete files on your computer.

Below is a link that will fix the problem… by exploiting it. By sending a specially crafted URL to your browser, it will delete the file that is the root of the exploit:

http://www.gavinroy.com/fixxp.php

You might be entitled to a refund for Microsoft Windows and any other related OEM software that may also be included if you have installed Linux, a BSD, BeOS, OS/2, Solaris, NetWare, Windows NT, or another OS on a machine which came preloaded with MS-Windows.

Visit: Windows Refund Center Home Page

Imagine a truly open market for computer software: one in which there were many interoperating products, truly competing on their merits rather than upon their vendor’s ability to lock other products out of the market. Prices would be lower, quality higher, and we’d have a transition to a customer-centric view of the software business, away from the vendor-centric view that many of us, perhaps unconsciously, hold today. Or we could continue today’s anti-competitive policies. Which one is your choice?

Visit: sincerechoice.org

6kgs in 2 weeks. Almost 1.5kgs in the last 2 days.

Sounds like a magical formula and almost sounds dangerous.

I’ve lost about 15kgs now since the beginning of the year, but about half of that has been in the last 3 weeks. All of it is thanks to a no-carb diet.

Obviously it’s difficult to eliminate carbs altogether – but I’m doing a fine job of avoiding them. Pepsi Max is helping 8-), but the diet is now meat, eggs, meat, leafy veggies, meat & well more meat. Bacon, chicken, fish, beef… it’s all good.

The pot belly is going, the triple chin is now double, I feel so energetic I’ve started going to the gym again – and even better all my old clothes fit!!

Try googling for “low carb diet” or checking out news:alt.support.diet.low-carb

Interesting manipulation of the DejaGoogle search engine…. Takes advantage of the color coding they use…

Go have a look

The McMaster motor is so radical, yet efficient, that vehicles using it no longer need:

A transmission
A drive shaft
A differential
A center hump
A catalytic converter
A traditional exhaust system
An extensive cooling system
A starter and ignition system
Spark plugs

The engine is environmentally friendly. The two-cycle version does not use gasoline, so it does not expel hydrocarbons. Further, the McMaster motor is sealed and does not require oxygen. It exhausts only air and water.

The engine has only two moving parts and is virtually noiseless. Further, the McMaster motor generates smoother torque and creates less vibration than a piston engine producing the same horsepower.

Go have a look…. www.mcmastermotor.com

From the “Too-much-time-on-his-hands” box, comes the amazing web page controlled Etch-A-Sketch.

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2mfh8/

“I am a pig-eyed horse-frightener with an electronic part”

A cack-fest. The Framley Examiner is an extremely funny read, but the personals really got me going.

http://www.framleyexaminer.com/pages/personals.html

From Boing Boing… Someone has far, far too much time on his hands.

They’ve put a huge effort into mapping known and speculated relationships between spammers and associated bulk emailers and marketeers.

Well worth a look.

Click for Spam Map

I know some of you are unfortunate enough to have to use Microsoft products. I can’t imagine what tragic turn of events has led to such a thoroughly bone-chilling scenario, but nonetheless I’m here to help.

Should you have Microsoft LookOut not LookOut Express, you can use the new tool from Cloudmark to block & report spam with just one mouse click.

w00t!

Go here: http://www.cloudmark.com

Annoyed by Spam? Well here’s a great opportunity to show your anger by protesting outside an event being organised by one of the most consistent spammers around – Wayne Mansfield, the “gentleman” behind The Which Company and T3 Direct.

CO-ORDINATED INFORMATION ACTION
July 24th 2002 – 8:30am to 9:30am
Novatel Langley, Plain Street, Perth

Want to inform people about the actions of T3??? Here’s your chance.

On the 24th of July 2002, Business Seminars Australia (one of T3′s businesses) will be conducting a seminar at the Novatel Langley from 9am on that day. Information from T3 informs us that Wayne himself will be in attendance and speaking at this seminar.

The purpose of the proposed action at this event is an information exercise – to increase public awareness of not only spam and unwanted marketing, but also alert the people attending this seminar of the unsavory practises employed by Mr. Mansfield’s company.

This is an information action only. This will be peaceful and no public nusiences will be caused at this event. If you are seen to be causing a public nusience or harassing persons, you will be asked to leave the action. We do not want any negative publicity and would like this to be a peaceful protest throught.

This event is for Perth Residents, but other seminars are taking place around Australia.

For more information: http://winchester.ii.net/spamsuit/protest.html

Here’s a great trick: How to find free hidden MP3s. A lot of people store their MP3s on unsecured directories, not realizing that they are connected to a web server. It’s pretty easy to track them down.

Go to Google.
In the search box, type: index apache mp3 insertnameofbandhere.

Obviously, you are going to replace insertnameofbandhere with the band or
song you are hunting for. That’s it!

Lifted from davezilla

It’s often seen as a waste of time… and maybe it is. It’s often populated with kids, cretins and weirdo’s… but for me, it’s the strange & absurd that make it so much fun.

I tend to leave a client running in a couple of channels, it’s good for information but it’s rare you get anything seriously funny happening. Oh it does get a bit ho-ho occassionally, but it’s unusual to see witty repartee, intellectual humour or even just plain ball-tearers.

That’s why this link had me chuckling… http://www.geekissues.org/quotes/

[Zybl0re] get up
[Zybl0re] get on up
[Zybl0re] get up
[Zybl0re] get on up
[phxl|paper] and DANCE
* nmp3bot dances \-<
* nmp3bot dances |-<
* nmp3bot dances /-<
[[SA]HatfulOfHollow] i'm going to become rich and famous after i invent a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet

Hell, it could just be my sense of humour...

I hate spam. I hate with a passion rarely seen this side of reality.

I’ve tried spamassassin, I’ve tried all the realtime blacklists… and while they’re all excellent in their own ways, nothing yet has beaten TMDA.

The Tagged Mail Delivery Agent intercepts all inbound email and verifies the sender is in my whitelist. If they’re not, it sends an auto-reply to the sender asking them to verify they are who they claim to be. This only happens once.

It works because spammers never respond to email – inevitably they’ve used a fake “from” or “reply-to”.

I can’t recommend it highly enough.

TMDA

Some images really make me laugh. As I come across them, I’ll post them here. Where possible I’ll try to give credit or link to the original source.



I guess this one came from inthe80s.com