Ty Ezbrannyj - The matrix as silent film
Tuesday November 10th 2009, 9:25 pm
Filed under: fun stuff

It’s awesome. Mainly because it’s in Russian! Ty Ezbrannyj - You are the one!



Auntie Beeb’s Guide to Marriage
Monday October 26th 2009, 7:43 am
Filed under: Uncategorized

heh

The secret to a happy marriage for men is choosing a wife who is smarter and at least five years younger than you, say UK experts.

‘Younger wife’ for marital bliss



Dear PayPal Customer
Friday September 11th 2009, 12:52 pm
Filed under: Khirbet Iskander 2007, interweb

Please give us your personal information so we may rob you:

—–Original Message—–
From: PayPal Billing [mailto:billing@customerdata.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 8:13 PM
Subject: Account Verification Form
Dear PayPal customer,

During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification
procedure we have detected a slight error in your billing information.
This might be due to the following reasons:
1.A recent change in your personal information (ie. change of
address, email address)
2.An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment
due to an internal error within our systems.

Please verify your information. To do this we have attached a form to this
email. Please download the form and follow the instructions on your screen.
NOTE: The form needs to be opened in a modern browser which has javascript
enabled (ex: Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, Safari 3, Opera 9)

We are requesting this information to verify and protect your identity. This
is in order to prevent the illegal activity of PayPal accounts.

Please do not reply to this email.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.Sincerely, PayPal
security team.

PayPal Email ID PP836

Remember, this is the Internet. Just because you’re not the type of person who would sell your grandmother to Russian gangsters for a dollar doesn’t mean there aren’t a thousand and one other people out here who would. (Sell your grandmother to Russian gangsters that is, and probably their own as well.)

This email was good. No spelling or obvious grammar mistakes. The only warning signs were (a) the sending email address (billing@customerdata.com) and (b) the fact that they attached an html form for the user to fill out. The html document was encrypted and wrapped in a javascript tag. NOT GOOD!!



Voyage to the end of the Universe
Thursday September 10th 2009, 8:09 am
Filed under: fun stuff

saw this on IO9:

It’s excerpted from a Czechoslovakian science fiction film from the 1960s. Surprisingly good. This scene has a decidedly anti-western theme to it.



recycled houses
Friday September 04th 2009, 8:51 am
Filed under: environmentalism

drool…
Home & Garden
The Recycled Houses
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
Published: 20090902
Dan Phillips has built homes in Huntsville, Tex., using salvaged materials.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/09/02/garden/20090903-recycled-slideshow_index.html



reproductively focused cognition
Friday September 04th 2009, 7:25 am
Filed under: anthropology

heh:

In a report on their findings the researchers said: ‘We conclude men’s cognitive functioning may temporarily decline after an interaction with an attractive woman.’

They call it “reproductively focused cognition.”
Rest at the Daily Telegraph



treeshankers against technology
Thursday September 03rd 2009, 11:59 am
Filed under: fun stuff

Cell Phone Karma, and it contains a squirrel. Adam Hoskins would love it, but he doesn’t do the internet thing. So, if you see him, tell him what he’s missing!



I see dead people…
Monday August 31st 2009, 8:16 am
Filed under: anthropology

Zack Venable, my old roommate from Mercyhurst, made the Times-News in Lehighton, PA this past week. He gave a presentation on Forensic entomology at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center this past weekend.
By far the best quote in the article:

“It’s not so much the sight, it’s the smell that can get to you very quickly.”

The smell also tends to stick with you the most, too. I remember my mom was canning beef a few years ago and the canner ran dry, scorching some of the meat. I just about couldn’t eat the beef after that. It smelled exactly like one of the cases that we had in the lab where a lady’s skull had been scorched. It wasn’t something that I had thought about in years, but the smell from the canner instantly brought that memory back. Anyways, read the rest of the article. Go Zack!

Bugs & Bodies

Zachary Venable, a forensic entomologist turned educator, presented a workshop for environmental educators on forensic entomology-using insects to help determine what has caused an animal’s death and how long since an animal died recently at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center.



more photo fakery
Monday August 24th 2009, 9:50 am
Filed under: technoporn

Following up on the youtube video in my post “xtreme makeover” here’s a photo essay on historical “photoshoping” that literally goes back to the beginnings of photography.

I thought the lead sentence in the accompanying article was appropriate too:

What a marvel the first photographic images must have been to their early-19th-century viewers — the crisp, unassailable reality of scenes and events, unfiltered by an artist’s paintbrush or point of view. And what an opportunity for manipulation. It didn’t take long for schemers to discover that with a little skill and imagination, photographic realism could be used to create manufactured realities.



most Facebook users are sheep-le…
Monday August 24th 2009, 9:30 am
Filed under: interweb

Obligatory XKCD

Following up on saturday’s post about Facebook spam, Slashdot this morning posted a link to a new “quiz” that illustrates the amount of information that a Fakebook developer can get about you even if you NEVER install their application.
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