Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Vexx

MOST of the money made in spamming these days comes from selling kits or services to idiots who want to spam.

I suspect there's a sizeable business renting botnets to spam aggregators. Most of the spam I receive comes from machines with names like 123.123.123.123.dsl.static.vsnl.net.in, which is some infected computer (likely running Windows) in a home or office in India. It's addressed from a bogus sender in a legitimate domain and sent to a legitimate user in a domain I administer. I get thousands like this each week. I haven't looked into the economics of the spam business recently, so I don't really have a clue how much this poor person's little spambot is worth to big-time spam aggregators. Could be just a few cents a month.

Someone's lately been forging one of my addresses to their spam (I know because the stupid ISPs send bounce mail back to my address rather than the initial machine listed in the header sequence). So my address is being cursed in places like France or Russia and I have little recourse. The address was no doubt harvested from some less than scrupulous vendor, forum, or whatever. Friend of mine creates a new address for every single entity he signs up with (perks of a sysadmin) and knows instantly WHO sold the address

I manage my own domain and have a sub-domain set up ("replies.example.com") that I use when I sign up online. I create a new address like amazon@replies.example.com for each entity. All mail in the "replies" domain is whitelisted and delivered to me.

Over time I've had a couple of spams sent to these private addresses. In both cases I think they were the victims of address-book theft. Amusingly they were my daughter's computer camp and the organization called Scientists & Engineers for America. Even my online golf vendors do a better job of protecting my email address than these two supposedly high-tech organizations did.

I'm sorry to hear you're the victim of stupid ISP behavior. I long ago learned that you can't blacklist by sender addresses since they are routinely forged in spams. I actually accepted the message from the machine in India because the sender looked a priori legitimate and the addressee was legitimate as well. I doubt it got delivered, though, once SpamAssassin took a look at it.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by ZephyrLeanne

Better not. Stephen Harper is politically tainted, if Aung San Suu Kyi goes, Harper will try to spin it for himself.

True, given the importance he is giving to international...

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Ahiru77

lol

But there's a reason you know.

If you're crazy and rich, that must mean that you're doing something brilliant to earn so much money. People kind of respect you for that....
If you're crazy and poor, well then you're helpless and you require a lot of assistance from others. Respect ??....ehhh....

Unless you're a richman's kid or just terribly unlucky.....

Well, yeah. That's how I draw the line. If you decide to paint your face blue and lose your job as a result, and then have to live off government hand outs and the generosity of strangers, you're crazy. If you're independently wealthy and employ a full-time make up artist to paint your face blue, well, it's no skin off my nose, and you've created a job. Well done.

[ganbaru]

Canadians face up to $1,000 UAE visa fees after row
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...6BS1DV20101229

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Over time I've had a couple of spams sent to these private addresses. In both cases I think they were the victims of address-book theft. Amusingly they were my daughter's computer camp and the organization called Scientists & Engineers for America. Even my online golf vendors do a better job of protecting my email address than these two supposedly high-tech organizations did.

The weakest link is human nature. With abit of sweet talking to someone high up there, you can virtually acquire anything you want about the person's company. And it just through a few phone calls, and using tricks such as intimidation, sympathy, and lingo.

People tend to let their guard down in familiar places, or with people who sound familiar. This is how address books are hijacked and scams are made.

EDIT :

I am not a fan of MMA, neither do I like quoting from Sankaku, but THIS takes the cake :

Cosplay Fighter Jienotsu Inflicts Dynamite MMA Knockout

Considering how the match was fought, Yuichiro's opponent seems to be playing dirty. He got what he deserved in the 2nd round, a 4-second knee and an immediate KO.

0wned. And it is certainly humiliating to be defeated by a cosplaying otaku kickboxer.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

The weakest link is human nature. With abit of sweet talking to someone high up there, you can virtually acquire anything you want about the person's company. And it just through a few phone calls, and using tricks such as intimidation, sympathy, and lingo.

While I agree with you that it can be possible to get private information by persuasion and cunning, that's not typically how e-mail addresses are harvested. Address-book theft is a much more common method. An unsuspecting user runs a piece of malware that searches the computer for email addresses and ships them out to a server somewhere on the Internet.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

While I agree with you that it can be possible to get private information by persuasion and cunning, that's not typically how e-mail addresses are harvested. Address-book theft is a much more common method. An unsuspecting user runs a piece of malware that searches the computer for email addresses and ships them out to a server somewhere on the Internet.

Malware gets harder and harder to be pinged by anti-malware these days, but the thing is that most malware come from downloads and accepting surrepitious mail from others.

For one, I am pretty apathetic to advertisements, and I don't use facebook at all. Maybe that is why I get less infections that my peers.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

True, given the importance he is giving to international...

You know what the problem is? Who IS the ACTUAL opposition leader in Canada? Stéphane Dion? Jack Layton? Or, God forbid, Gilles Duceppe? The opposition in Canada is quite a mess really. Unlike other Westminster-system nations....

Australia: PM Gillard, Opp. Tony Abbott
UK: PM Cameron and DPM Clegg, Opp. Ed Milliband
NZ: PM John Key, Opp. Phil Goff
Malaysia: PM Najib, Opp. Anwar

In fact, the only other Westmnster nation where the opposition is simply unelectable is Singapore. THe ruling party understands that people just want to make money (or at least a living) peacefully, and it avoids discussing sensitive issues.

Bascially, it's the ultimate successful technocracy. In a conservative society. How odd. The only thing is, I keep thinking Lee Kuan Yew is the Foreign Minister, given he seems to have more overseas engagements than the Foreign Minister (whoever he is). A bit like Kevin Rudd when he was PM. They didn't call him Kevin 747 for nothing, people...

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by ZephyrLeanne

You know what the problem is? Who IS the ACTUAL opposition leader in Canada? Stéphane Dion? Jack Layton? Or, God forbid, Gilles Duceppe? The opposition in Canada is quite a mess really. Unlike other Westminster-system nations....

True, in our current situation, only the liberal and the torries could get elected. The problem isn't the bad image of Steven Harper but the lack of presence of Ignatief ...

[ganbaru]

Arkansas town puzzled after thousands of dead birds fall from the sky
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1855724/

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

True, in our current situation, only the liberal and the torries could get elected. The problem isn't the bad image of Steven Harper but the lack of presence of Ignatief ...

Um, Ignatief-who? Another NEW LIBERAL LEADER? Goodness, the party is already unstable the way it is...

[MrTerrorist]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Malware gets harder and harder to be pinged by anti-malware these days, but the thing is that most malware come from downloads and accepting surrepitious mail from others.

For one, I am pretty apathetic to advertisements, and I don't use facebook at all. Maybe that is why I get less infections that my peers.

Excuse me, but do you mean "I don't have a Facebook account" or "I rarely use Facebook"?

I'm just curios.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Excuse me, but do you mean "I don't have a Facebook account" or "I rarely use Facebook"?

I'm just curios.

I have one but I haven't logged in once since January last year.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by ZephyrLeanne

Um, Ignatief-who? Another NEW LIBERAL LEADER? Goodness, the party is already unstable the way it is...

Unless I am mistaken, it's been more than a year than he becomed the leader of the Liberal Party.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Unless I am mistaken, it's been more than a year than he becomed the leader of the Liberal Party.

1+ year?
That doesn't excude conficdence...

I think the all the partles on the left side need to form a coalition on the left, much like the Nationals and Liberals formed a coalition on the right in Australia. Or, more recently, the National, Assoc. of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT) Party, United Future (centrist) and the Maori Party formed a coalition on the center-right, in New Zealand.

[ganbaru]

N.B. girl, 10, youngest person to discover a supernova
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1856411/

[ChainLegacy]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

N.B. girl, 10, youngest person to discover a supernova
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1856411/

Good for her. She might not care now, but maybe someday that'll inspire her to make a career out of astronomy. It's certainly a good starting point.

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

Good for her. She might not care now, but maybe someday that'll inspire her to make a career out of astronomy. It's certainly a good starting point.

Good on her.
There's a lack of astronomers right now. Seeing as how we're screwing up Earth, we might just need a new place...

[MrTerrorist]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

N.B. girl, 10, youngest person to discover a supernova
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1856411/

Congratulations little girl. Now you are the envy of other astronomers who wished they found that supernova first.

[Azumanga Davo]

The cynic in me wonders which country will be the first to subsidise 10 year olds to "stare at the sky for a bit" and slash the research budget in the process.

Nice find though, makes you wonder what the proper boffins were up to. Probably blowing up another caravan for Brainiac maybe...