Nothin' but linkspam

[cleolinda]

Important! If you have played a Sony product on your computer, it apparently has downloaded a "rootkit" on your computer:

The software installs itself as a root kit, which is a set of tools commonly used to make certain files and processes undetectable, and they're the favored tool of crackers who are, as Wikipedia puts it, attempting to "maintain access to a system for malicious purposes." In fact, root kits are often classified alongside Trojan horses. And Mark Russinovich, who created a root-kit detection utility and was one of the first to blog about the Sony intrusion, discovered another little gem when he tried to remove the DRM drivers. It broke his computer--disabling his CD drive.

So, let's make this a bit more explicit. You buy a CD. You put the CD into your PC in order to enjoy your music. Sony grabs this opportunity to sneak into your house like a virus and set up camp, and it leaves the backdoor open so that Sony or any other enterprising intruder can follow and have the run of the place. If you try to kick Sony out, it trashes the place.

I'm hearing rumblings about a class-action suit. If anyone hears about anything more effective than a petition, let me know.


Australia foils major terrorist attack.

Police Find Bomb-Making Factory in Paris.

Defense lawyer in Saddam trial killed.

British author John Fowles, whose works include "The French Lieutenant's Woman" and "The Collector," has died. He was 79.

Urbina charged with attempted murder.

Drunk Death Row Escapee Captured in La.

Beatty Tries to Crash Schwarzenegger Rally.

Pirate Attack Repelled by Cruise Ship Crew.

Cheerleaders Had Sex in Bar, Witnesses Say. Yes, with each other.

Tom Cruise fires sister.

I've been sitting on this story for a while, because it's just too horrifying.

bacardibreezer7: "I'm sure you have already been told about this but check it out: so much cocaine use is going on in London that there are traces of it in the Thames." Actually, I hadn't, so: awesome. Now that Kate Moss has been to rehab, though, I expect those figures to start going down significantly.

Honey is medicinally awesome. Also: "When combined with water and oxygen, glucose oxidase forms gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide—the very same stuff you probably have in your medicine cabinet right now. This means that diluted honey can serve as an excellent antiseptic, while being far less likely than ordinary hydrogen peroxide to harm already-damaged tissue."

Pictures: jenni_talula's books and her Lost bear have arrived.

BookCrossing: Discovered this the other day on scorpiosphynx's journal, and I'm having fun adding recently-read books to my bookshelf. The really fun part is that you can sign up for an alert for when someone releases a book "into the wild" in your city. (Eeeee! A book was released in the quad at my alma mater! Ooo, and it's a good book, too.)

Speaking of which: "Cleo, I'm sure you're tired of putting up these thefillintheblanksite things, but could you pimp The Literacy Site? It's like The Hunger Site, but it donates free books to children with every click. Today, every click is doubled. I don't know how long this will last." Actually, I'm not tired of them at all--they're all at the same hub site, so it's not like they're poser copycats or something. I just wanted to add a new one every so often rather than overwhelm people all at once, but if they're doing a special today, let's go for it.



ETA:

Alabama Governor Calls for Aruba Boycott

'Desperate Housewives' Actor Fired

Comments

[onlyinlexington.livejournal.com]

But wait, Cleo! Although honey may be great and all medically, it should be known that babies under two or three really, really shouldn't eat honey because there's a very harmful bacteria in it that only older bodies seem to be able to clean out with ease. So y'all mommas reading this, don't start building a superbaby by giving him or her honey with water and...oxygen.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Oooh. I like both the idea of keeping a listing of my books and the idea of getting people to read. I think I shall join!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I did hear about that--something about botulism? So no, honey is *not* safe for wee sprats.

[edda.livejournal.com]

This is probably a bad time to mention I posted them all, labeled and linked, in my lastest (as of typing this comment) journal entry.

*hands you Kleenex*

[(Anonymous)]

Pasteurised as in pressure boiled to sterile and sealed, is safe. It's the unpasteurised o’natural stuff that can cause complications. That and any that has been sitting around the cupboard for a while. The other danger is in giving kids a stronger taste for sweet when really young.

Curverex

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

Raised an eyebrow and had to wonder about the Sony thing, but then checked it out over on Symantec. (I verify/debunk stuff like this. Urban legend email forwards, etc., irk me.)

What Symantec had to say (http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/securityrisk.aries.html)

Apparently, it's for real, classes as a low priority threat, can't be removed without damaging the OS, but can be patched so as to end the threat part, and comes from their protected music CDs. Nasty.

-Dira-

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

See, I hate urban legend stuff too--I always go to Snopes first. But once I saw the article about the Italian class-action suit, I knew it had to be true. And sure enough, I have two more class-action suit links on deck for the next entry--NY and CA, I think.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

I'm just seneaking a review of your book onto an LJ post. I don't feel I should hunt up yoour email -- you must be overwhelmed already.


I loved it. I LOVED IT. It made me laugh. You are brilliant.

I wish I could quote lines, because that's what a good feedbacker would do. But I've got deadlines too, and I'm terminal. I'm a shade of a human being.


I would say one thing, though: the burnout? totally normal. It's the stress poisons. Hitting the mark requires massive adrenaline and it's completely normal to feel snappish, depressed and empty after such an achievement. (Pity me! Saving deadlines is my effing job.)

You have a great career ahead of you. You have the blend of humor, humility and professionalism that makes a career. You'll also bring some good funny to the world. Yay.


All the best to you, Cleolinda. I LOVED your book.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Awwwww!