According to the AP, the FBI arrested Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, of Hopkins, Minnesota, a.k.a. "t33kid" in the investigation into the Blaster.B worm that wreaked havoc on the net earlier this year. While it's all good and well that the FBI is tracking down these virus makers and confiscating their equipment, chances are, he'll get probabion and not be able to use a computer for a year or two. After which time, he'll probably be able to land a high-paying "consulting" job and be set for life.

While I do realize that there are more ruthless criminals out there that deserve jail time, perhaps they should lock this kid up for five years, have him get a taste of what will happen if he breaks his probation and send a message to the rest of the hackers out there that writing viruses is not acceptable. Whatever happens, there will always be others out there writing viruses, and there will be others out there in countries without extradition treaties and it will be impossible for the FBI to capture them, like they did t33kid.

URL: Minnesota Teenager Arrested in Internet Attack

I've definitely gotten in over my head. I am currently redesigning the SD-6.com website and I didn't like the way I had the actor's info presented. So I decided, why don't I just start a simple encyclopedia-type site that would keep track of the different people in Alias? Sounds simple enough. I found a great piece of software, and I got it running no problem. But now it seems I've gotten in over my head. I add one thing and I've got 10 more to add. I add one of the 10 and I've got 10 more. It's just growing exponentially, and even with help from people at SD-1.com, it may never be finished, but when it gets going, it'll be the definitive source for anything Alias. Need to know who a character is? We'll have it. Need to know who directed episode fourteen from season two? We'll have it. It'll just take a while before everything's there.

URL: Double Agent - Alias Dossier

Every once in a while, I feel the need to register a new domain. I've got domains for pretty much any project I work on - including two of my latest - blakex.com (blog) and blakesmame.com (mame cabinet). Well, today, I was watching Endgame (Alias - Season 2, Episode 19) and there was a website featured in a scene between Will & Francie - bouillabaisecentral.com. Call it stupidity, wastefulness, whatever, but I now own bouillabaisecentral.com. I'm just going to put up an exact copy of the website featured in Alias and every link will take you to one of my other domains (sd-1.com or sd-6.com). Is it worth the $9/year to have this site up? Probably not, but it's fun and might even be informative for some.

P.S. - The link to the site may not work yet as it takes 24-48 hours for the name servers to propagate across the internet.

URL: GoDaddy.com: Low cost domain names, domain transfers, web hosting, email accounts and software essentials.

Another power-related post - didn't expect two of these today. But it appears as if Alaska has the solution to blackouts - giant rechargable battery reserves. It's an interesting concept, but one that seems only feasible in Alaska, where pipes can freeze within hours if power goes out for too long. In case of a blackout, the massive bank of rechargeable batteries can provide seven minutes of power, enough time to power up the diesel generators. It's an interesting concept, but, seems to have a very high cost for just seven minutes of power (though it does provide power to the whole city - about 12,000 people). With the blackout in London today and the one in the U.S. Northeast exactly two weeks ago, there's no doubt that our electrical grids need a massive overhaul, plunging the U.S. further into debt, but the price of ensuring our security and protecting against further blackouts cannot be measured - it just needs to be fixed.

URL: Telegraph | Money | World's biggest battery switched on in Alaska

In a recent poll, the results were not surprising regarding the 2003 California Recall.

URL: Recall Poll

It's about time we started to harness the power of the ocean. I've seen similar proposals over the years, with the idea of using tides to be the most interesting, but a deepwater windfarm sounds pretty interesting. Especially since they'll be using already established oil rigs to set up the windfarm on. The only question I have, is how would 2,000 turbines in the ocean affect the ocean's fish/whale/etc. population? I would assume they'd be fenced off to prevent fish from getting chopped up in the turbine, but while a few turbines here and there sounds like a good idea, how much is too much? I guess it's just a matter of trial and error, but it's always better to harness natural energy forces (wind, water, sun) rather than burning natural resources.

URL: EE Times UK - UK to be first with deepwater windfarm

Every so often, life throws you a curveball. The past few weeks, I've been training for my new job at NTN which I thought would start during the regular football season, as it involves making playcalls during live football games. Of course, I knew college games were included, but I didn't really expect to get called in. Well, today at 10:10pm (nice, eh?) my boss called and I've got to go in Saturday for the Washington vs. Ohio State game. Usually, it'd be no problem - sure, I'll work - need the money. But when you're expecting to play trivia at 5:30pm and then possibly hang out with Scott, my best friend, who is flying in from Pensacola, Florida as he is in the Marines and I might see him once or twice for the rest of the year, then, yeah, it sucks. But, it's my first game, it's the first time I've been called in. How would it look if I couldn't do it? Sure, I'll probably get to see Scott Friday night, and maybe Sunday if he's not busy with family and all, but when life throws you a curveball, you've got to wait on it and then hit it out of the park. Hmm...perhaps watching Bull Durham tonight wasn't such a good idea. Though it does have one of the greatest quotes in a movie ever.

URL: Yahoo! TV - Program Details

The local NBC affiliate posted a video from the chase - some pretty dramatic stuff there at the end. Why am I never in an intersection when something like that happens? How cool would it be to see that all go down?

URL: NBC Feed Room

Recently, a report was issued that stated that police in the Los Angeles area were in less police chases, and as a result, there were less accidents caused because of police chases. Apparently, the police have a new policy that states that a chase can not be initiated if a person is being pulled over for a minor infraction (tail light out, etc.). Obviously police use this tactic to pull over suspicious cars as it gives them a reason, even if the person is obeying all traffic laws. I commend the police department for taking this action, and I think it's a good policy that has undoubtedly saved lives.

However, the policy I do not like is the voluntary non-coverage by news stations in the Los Angeles area when a police chase is underway. Rather than breaking into normal programming and televising a police chase, they do not show it live, but rather, show snippets on the five o'clock news. The reasoning behind this non-coverage is that criminals will initiate a chase because they want to get on TV. This reasoning is asinine. Criminals will initiate a chase because they believe they can get away - or the thought of jail time scares them enough (two strikes, outstanding warrants, etc.).

Of course, the reason I'm complaining is because this morning, I heard of a chase on the radio as they were doing traffic reports and turned the TV on to see if I could catch a glimpse. Nope. Nothing. The radio then went on to detail what was happening, which they could do, via a closed circuit feed from their local television station's chopper. I belive that the public has a right to know what's happening, see what happens, and in the end, watch how the chase is concluded. By televising chases, criminals will not think, "Gee, let's see if I can get on TV," and run away more often, but rather, we might see more restraing used by the chasing police cars and, even better, see what happens when you do run - you get caught - thus serving as a deterrant to those who decide to run in the future.

URL: NBC 4 - News - Police Arrest Suspect As Dramatic Pursuit Comes To Ends

Yeah, I know Coinstar is basically a rip off since they're charging me 8.9% to convert cash to cash, but when your stupid bank charges exorbitant fees and you need to quickly convert $70 into bills to deposit into an ATM, a coinstar is a very convenient option. But then they get you in the supermarket and it's just so easy to pick up some stuff you need, so $20 later, I ended up walking out with only $41. Oh well - that's 41 more available dollars than I had at the start of the evening.

URL: www.coinstar.com

Previously, I had mentioned the hypocrisy behind Arianna's column about how corporate tax cuts are ruining America, while at the same time, she hid behind her corporation and paid a full $700 over the past two years in income tax. Well, today, I got spam from Arianna, asking for my vote in the upcoming California gubernatorial election. I've previously voiced my distaste for spam from political candidates spamming people, but it seems to be getting more and more commonplace. This increases the number of spams from candidates to three (Peter Ueberroth, Howard Dean, and now Arianna).

But while I somewhat understand why they'd be spamming me, as they are probably not aware that most companies that solicit their services are using opt-in lists, it amazes me that Arianna has no stance on anything relating to technology - Arianna's Archive. She touches on the corrupting influence of money, the environment, corporation greed and America's failed drug war, yet, while running for Governor in a state which is very heavily based around technology (can you say Silicon Valley?), she has absolutely no stance on anything relating to tech. Nothing about spam, nothing about copyrights, nothing about fostering growth in the tech sector. Simply amazing.

URL: Arianna Huffington for Governor!

I recently wrote about the SoBig.F virus and how it has been rampaging across the internet thanks to hundreds or thousands of insecure computers run by people who don't know how to keep their software up to date, don't run anti-virus software, don't have a firewall, or just plain don't care. Now, it appears there's a motive for SoBig.F and if history is to be our guide, this isnt' the last we've seen of the virus.

According to the New York Times article, it is believed by many that the intent of the SoBig.F virus is to create a distributed network of computers that can then be sold out to the highest bidder and be used for sending out spam. Such a network would be impossible to shut down, increasingly hard to filter, and all-in-all, a pain in the ass. It's quite an interesting theory and, while plausible, I don't see it as possible. Eventually, people infected by these viruses will clean their computers and patches released by Microsoft or anti-virus companies will patch the holes in the system. But whereas the viruses that have been spread over the past few months have made no secret that they're sending out massive amounts of e-mail. But in the future, if a virus could spread relatively unnoticed by end-users, it could sit dormant on their machine and just send out spam when told to do so. I'm certain there's tons of computers already out there infected by one kind of trojan or another, and such a program, spread by e-mail could sit dormant until called upon. It's a huge gamble for the virus writers, as the FBI has been investigating the virus already, but if they pull it off, the rewards they reap could be huge.

URL: HoustonChronicle.com - Experts see greed as motive for Sobig

Today, waiting in my In-Box, was a piece of spam from Peter Ueberroth. Apparently, he wants me to vote for him for governor. The thing is, there is absolutely no way I will vote for anyone that sends me spam. It is just 100% unnecessary. I understand you need to get your platform out there and you need to get name recognition, but sending spam is not the way to do it. So far, I've had spam from Peter Ueberroth for Governor and Howard Dean for President. Though I probably wouldn't be voting for either anyways, there is absolutely no chance any more.

URL: Peter Ueberroth for Governor

The problem with our government today is that they don't understand the high-tech happenings and instead of trying to foster growth and innovation, they want to tax it. How can you tax a Local Area Network (LAN)? Are you going to add an additional tax to routers, NICs, WAPs, CAT5 cables or anything else associated with a network? It just makes no sense and is yet another example of our elected officials trying to tax the technology rather than nurturing its growth.

URL: Taxing computer connections? - 2003-08-25 - Orlando Business Journal

I'm not going to touch on what would appear to be the main point of the article - that another 9/11 style attack on the U.S. is likely (heck, I could say it is likely that 200 people will die from malaria next month - anything can be likely - and predicting another attack on the U.S. isn't anything new). But what I do want to comment on, is that North Korea is the least likely to have a terrorist attack. Really? Would have never guessed - why would anyone want to attack North Korea? If anything, the people rising up against an oppressive government sounds more likely, but I could have told you they'd be amongst the least likely to be attacked by terrorists. Next lowest is Iceland - who wants to blow up ice? Even though we know there's more green in Iceland and more ice in Greenland.

URL: Yahoo! News - Study: 9/11-Style Attack on U.S. Likely

I'm a poor college student - bid on my auction - I need money. (shameless plug)

URL: eBay item 3344086326 - Traffic Criterion Collection #151 MINT 2 DVD

What? The Lions won? Well...yes - they won, but they only beat the Browns, but still...they won. It's been a hard few years (ok, more than a few years) being a Lions fan, but I'm starting to think they might actually win a few games this year. Harrington is becoming a better QB and with rookie WR Charles Rogers, WR Scotty Anderson and RB James Stewart, the Lions might be getting better. I certainly hope so - I'll be refereeing most of their games at NTN this year for QB1.

URL: Yahoo! Sports: Lions 38, Browns 17

If you're ever in the San Diego area, stop by Pizza Port for pizza & beer. I almost stopped in at the Pizza Port San Clemente today because on the radio I had heard that there was an accident at Avery Parkway with a car on fire and two lanes were blocked. I figured if I stopped at Pizza Port and had a pint along with some beer buddies, I could wait for the traffic to clear and continue on my way home from training at NTN. But since I didn't know exactly where it was and my friend wasn't answering his phone (I was hoping he could look it up for me on the web) and I didn't want to pay $1.25 to Sprint to use 411, I just continued on and sat in traffic. But now, since I know it's on El Camino Real, I can find it next time and stop in for some of the best...pizza...ever.

URL: Pizza Port Brewing Company,San Diego, California

I did not know there were mushroom flies. But I guess if there's house flies, there should be mushroom flies as well. But why the link? Well, it's just not fun being told by your brother, "hey, I gotta show you something," and then have him lead you out to the dining room where 60+ flies have amassed in the skylight type thing we have. After quite a bit of raid, the flies were writhing on the ground or had escaped to another window where they too, were promptly raided. They were then quickly vacuumed up and no more doors will be open during the day. Although I find it hard to believe all the flies came in through a door during the day - I am thinking there must have been some sort of hatchery because there were a lot of flies, though they were all quite big. Sorry, I know it's disgusting...just had to be shared.

URL: Doctor Optimara: Mushroom Flies

I want a diamond processor...actually, this is the second article I've read in as many days about how diamonds are set to take over conducting activities from silicon as it is an extremely conductive material and very efficient when it comes to electricity. I also read an article somewhere about two companies who have come up with a way to make synthetic diamonds that are almost flawless for half the price of a regular diamond. So, in the future, will we have fake diamonds on our hands and real ones in our computer?

URL: EE Times - NTT verifies diamond semiconductor operation at 81 GHz

Damn you Microsoft and your addicting flash games! This is probably the most addictive flash game I've played in a while, though not the strangest.

URL: MSN Games by Zone.com - Hexic

I figured since I mentioned that I use a good piece of software to filter out the spam (30,000 in two months, and counting), I might as well mention what that software is. It's called SpamBayes and uses Bayesian filtering to create a working database of words that are common across my spam and across my "good" messages. It takes a while to train it, but for each message you mark as spam and for each message you mark as good, it "learns" for future messages. It's quite a powerful piece of software, and best of all, it's free.

Prior to using SpamBayes, I had used a piece of software by Cloudmark called Spamnet. Spamnet was very good at filtering out spam, but the false positive rate was too high to be of any use. The way Spamnet worked is when you marked a message as spam, it would communicate with a central server, and if enough people marked it as spam, it would be marked as spam for everyone else. So if enough people marked a newsletter you want to get as spam, you won't see it as it will be automatically filtered to your spam box. I really didn't know of any other options out there, so I used Spamnet for a long time (it was free, after all). But then they started charging for the service and I wasn't about to fork over $3 or $4 a month for software that had free alternatives and had such a high false positive rate.

After Spamnet, I still had not learned about SpamBayes, so I switched to Matador by Mailfrontier. Mailfrontier, similar to Spamnet, used a central server to mark spam and also uses advanced filters to get rid of spam. In my initial trials, it was a much better filter than Spamnet, but it too did mark some good messages as spam, though the false positive rate was smaller than Spamnet. I really liked this application (had not researched enough about Bayesian filters) and paid the $30 registration. I guess I could transfer that registration code to someone else since I no longer use it, but I wouldn't recommend Matador when there's SpamBayes out there. And thus ends tonight lecture on mail filters.

URL: SpamBayes Outlook Addin

Since July 2nd, 2003, I have received over 30,000 spam messages. Luckily I use a very good piece of software to filter them - catches well over 90% of them - with 0.00% false positives. That means absolutely no messages that I want to see are misclassified as spam. But still, 30,000 in less than two months is insane (and this doesn't even count the 5,000+ viruses (yes, viruses - please disregard my previous classification of them as virii (virii would be the plural of virius).

Why am I telling you this? Well, basically, something has to be done. An article I read today mentioned that more than 50% of all e-mails are spam. Suffice to say, I have not received 30,000 genuine e-mail messages in the same time period as the spams. Obviously, because I put my e-mail addresses out on the net (I use various e-mail addresses for various sites), I am bound to get a lot of spam, but 30,000 is just insane. It almost makes me want to get a new e-mail address and start from scratch, but I know I'll never do that. I just can't change my e-mail address, just as I can't change my name.

URL: Spam - Wikipedia

Just finished my in-depth review of the Alias: Season 1 DVD. In short - it's a great package. The video and audio quality are top-notch and the special features are quite a bit of fun to watch. There were a few things I thought were missing from the DVD (insert, deleted scenes commentary, extended gag reel), but other than that, it's a great set.

URL: SD-6 HQ - Alias: Season 1 DVD Review

I've played my fair share of odd flash games, but this one has to take the cake for the most surreal. There's no set objective, no real puzzles to figure out, just click everywhere and you'll win. What makes it interesting though, are the incredibly textured levels and the strange accompanying music. Try it out, you just might like it.

URL: smorost.swf

This is probably one of the funniest articles I've read in quite a while. It's amazing the length some people will go to to disguise the truth, but here, it's absolutely necessary. I especially love "Plumbum oscillans" and "LOBNH," however, some of them are pretty rude, such as the "dirtbag index" and "O or Q." But then again, if you wrote some of this stuff down in plain old english, I'm sure some lawsuits wouldn't be far away.

URL: NEWS.com.au | Doctor, doctor, I'm pumpkin positive (August 22, 2003)

I like beer. A lot. I'm just not sure I'd want to drink Butt Monkey beer though.

URL: Butt Monkey for Governor - 2003

Ya know, I only use AOL IM now since it's just too cumbersome to run AIM/ICQ/MSN/Yahoo! all on the same computer and I haven't found a program that interfaces with them all that has been acceptable for everyday use. Now, even though there are options out there, Microsoft is seeking to take those options away. From the article, it appears that all-in-one clients will still be able to connect, but it will be using a different protocol. Whatever works. But if you were Microsoft, and you already have tons of haters in the world (see entry below), would you try and shut out those true tech-heads whom already use an all-in-one client? Just doesn't make sense to me.

URL: InfoWorld: Microsoft to lock down MSN Messenger network: August 19, 2003: By : Networking

When in doubt, blame Microsoft. While I'm not the biggest fan of Microsoft, you cannot simply blame all worms and virii on them. You can't just simply say that it's their fault - that their code is faulty. True, there are flaws in the system. Not everything is 100% secure. If the blame doesn't lie on Microsoft, where does it lie? The blame lies with the end-user. The blame lies with the idiot who doesn't patch his machine. The blame lies with the tech un-savvy who doesn't use a firewall on a broadband connection. The blame does not lie with Microsoft.

So, it's not Microsoft's fault, but rather the user. But, to play the devil's advocate, you ask, "why is it only Windows machines that have worms and virii?" Is it because they are poorly coded? No. Is it because of stupid users? Partly. Is it because worms and virii only target Windows machines because they're used by 95%* of the population? Exactly. Why the hell would you make a worm that affects only 1% of the computers on the 'net? That just makes no sense. If you want to cause havoc, steal passwords, whatever your intentions, you go after the largest target base. It's really that simple.

*95% made up. Might be more, might be less, but I'm sure the majority of the population uses Microsoft Windows.

URL: Why I Hate Microsoft - Part 1: Worms and Viruses