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Thought For the Day: Don't Trust Caller ID! TFTD: Greetings. For those of us who were openly skeptical and critical of telephone Calling Number ID (CNID) since its original planning phase, we seem to have reached one of those "we told you so" moments. Word has been circulating for some time that it was possible to hack displayed CNID data via manipulation of digital access lines and through VoIP systems. Now comes word of a commercial service providing false CNID information -- initial target customers: collection agencies. Unreliable CNID is a big deal -- particularly considering that it tends to be a premium-priced service sometimes required to be purchased to qualify for telephone company long distance packages and the like. And for persons making the long-standing mistake of depending upon CNID for security or privacy reasons, the effects of manipulated CNID can be dramatic indeed. So the next time Vice President Chaney's residence telephone number shows up on your phone, you may want to consider the possibility that it is not legit, unless you work for Halliburton, of course. --Lauren-- |
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Greetings. Today we begin a regular (or at least semi-regular) feature of this blog -- the Thought(s) For the Day (TFTD). These will be extremely short musings related to current events that I feel are especially worth mentioning in brief. You may or may not agree with what amounts to my free advice, but as John Belushi's "Bluto" so eloquently noted in Animal House, "Don't cost nothin' ". Of course, Allan Sherman sang that "Good advice costs nothing, and it's worth the price" -- but we'll call that a minority viewpoint for now. TFTD: In an interview aired this morning, G.W. Bush, reversing his previous categorical statements on the topic, suggested that the "War on Terror" cannot be won. Not only does this fit in nicely with VP Cheney's "war without end" philosophy, but probably is even true -- so long as an administration remains in power that has done more to induce terrorist recruitment around the world than Osama ever could. Update: 8/31/04: Bush reversed himself again today (the technical term is "flip-flopped") and apparently now believes that "we will win" the war on terror. Now, which should we believe -- his statement that we will win in a prepared speech today, or his unscripted remarks that we can't win from yesterday? This isn't a game of horseshoes -- make up your mind, George! TFTD: XM Satellite Radio is all in a tizzy over a software package that enables people to easily capture analog output copies of songs from the service and convert them to MP3s. Lawyers are apparently madly scanning through LexisNexis trying to find laws that this package is violating -- and given the state of copyright laws they may find them too. But it would be wise to ponder the ramifications of these events as the content giants try ever harder to plug what they so indelicately call the "a-hole" (that's "analog hole" -- get your minds out of the gutter). It seems that every day in every way, we get closer to the Betamax decision really going away. Make a recording -- go to jail. It's comforting to know that the Department of Justice has time to spare for these urgent security matters. Be seeing you. --Lauren-- |
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Greetings. I don't usually post cute animal pix (though I've got lots of them myself, I'll admit) but I couldn't resist this new one. The three guys (from left to right) and one gal (far right) in this shot are on guard here in L.A. at a friend's house. The three on the right were hand-raised from birth from a single litter by my friend and were born a bit over two years ago. I have a male and female from that same litter in my own menagerie. A nicer litter/gang of kitties you'll never meet. --Lauren--
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Greetings. While signing the massive defense spending bill today, President Bush had a few words to say about terrorism. This very short audio clip from his remarks demonstrates how important it is to think about what you're going to say before you say it, or at least to give the script that they hand you a good inspection before going on camera. Or to put it another way, as the old saying goes: "Make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear." --Lauren-- |
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Greetings. So, it turns out that the "intelligence" triggering the sudden rash of new terrorism fears and alerts in New York, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. was based primarily on information collected several years ago -- even pre-9/11. And we're now told that there was no attack plan of any kind included in the data. This morning at a press conference, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said, "We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security." Uh huh. I'll believe that when, well, you know ... --Lauren--
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