The BNP is claiming that the local UKIP organisation in Horsham has started to distribute their literature and a letter from the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, to its members saying they should "find out about the real BNP". This is apparenly in response to UKIP being pushed into last place (eighth) in the Horsham by-election last week, whilst the BNP surged into third.
As an aside, I can't help but notice the fact that the BNP provides its members, and the public, with "news updates". They just need to call a premium rate phone line which charges £1 per minute. Wonder how much they make out of that?
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Elf in charge of road side speed trap
It appears that a deputy from Orange County Police Department is dressing up as one of Father Christmas's elfs whilst on duty running a speed trap.Apparently, thanks to the fact that decoys like this are allowed in the US, he's issued 150 tickets in 2 hours. More pictures here.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Ken Clarke: Gordon's not green, he's doing it for the money
On this evening's Any Questions on Radio 4, Ken Clarke was one of the guests. I only caught the end of it, but what was said caused quite a laugh from the audience and certainly expressed the hard nosed reality of Gordon's so-called "green taxes".During the discussion on airport taxes, Ken Clarke stated that Gordon Brown wasn't really being green by increasing airport tax, he was just doing it because he was short of funds.
Now, besides the fact that he was simply reversing his halving cut on airport tax from 2000, it was what Ken Clarke actually said that drove the point home. He said, and I quote.
"Look, I invented airport tax and I did it for the money"Honesty and quality. Brilliant!
If a Tory did this what would people say?
PragueTory has highlighted something that poses just one question. If a Tory did this, or this, what would people say?
"You’ve taken the Tosser Test, and now for your delight and delectation, the Ministry of Truth is proud to present the first screenshot from the Conservative Party’s upcoming ‘Sort-It’ campaign on Race Relations - we’re sure it’ll be a roaring success…"
Missing comments - Beta Blogger bug?
I have found what appears to be a bug with Beta Blogger. For a while now the "Dashboard" has said I had 1 comment to publish yet nothing appears in the "Moderate Comments" section. The other day it turned into two and someones comment (which I received via email) was not visible to be published.
It has now changed to three comments awaiting publishing, and the missing comment is one by Ellee in the Weblog Awards post. All very odd. I shall go and dig on on the Blogger Blog and see if it is a known problem.
Update: The guys from a Blogger have a blog for known issues with Beta
It has now changed to three comments awaiting publishing, and the missing comment is one by Ellee in the Weblog Awards post. All very odd. I shall go and dig on on the Blogger Blog and see if it is a known problem.
Update: The guys from a Blogger have a blog for known issues with Beta
A whatogram?
I've just witnessed the use of the word "organogram" by a senior executive. Apparently, this bastardised travesty of English is a synergy of "organisation" and "diagram".
N.B. The word synergy above is meant as a joke.
N.B. The word synergy above is meant as a joke.
2006 Weblog Award - Best UK blog finalists
Just read the finalist list for Best UK Blog on the 2006 Weblog Awards site.Whilst I know a couple of these blogs, and I'm sure the others are good too (maybe), I'm rather surprised that Guido and Iain Dale have not found themselves in there especially given the volume of traffic they generate.
This makes the license fee worthwhile
I've always wanted to know how to make a bra out of a plastic bag, it's useful and informative.I'm so glad the BBC License fee is being put to such good use. It promotes recycling too, and gives a whole new meaning to the term "bag lady". Bravo!
This is what Friday is all about
It never ceases to amaze me the wonder and skill of creative talents out there on the Internet. Of course, even though they are talented the Internet is clearly inherently evil (requires sound).
More Internet crime.. when will we learn?
According to the Guardian, "cybercriminals" are exploiting social networking sites like MySpace and using university students to distribute their tools for identity fraud purposes. Now, aside from the prefix "cyber" (asl?) being as annoying prefixing things with "e-", this story is another of those that reports problems and always ignores the solution.
All of these problem stems from one thing, and one thing only. The Windows security model. Pretty much by default under Windows XP everyone has full read, write and execute to the entire system by design. The result is that not particularly sophisticated websites can effectively execute code on client machine that is malicious.
Apparently, this might actually be something that is fixed in Windows Vista although I have yet to see the evidence of that, and I'm a tad cynical of it actually being true. Under POSIX based systems, i.e. Linux, OSX, etc, these sort of things simply cannot happens unless the user is logged into the system as root, and if they are, they deserve it for being stupid.
All roads lead to Microsoft when it comes to prevalence of malware that creates drone networks of compromised machines. Security is not the basis of the OS and the notion of least privileged access to core system actions, such as the installation of software, and the ability to access raw sockets so easily makes the uneducated vulnerable.
Sadly, the marketing team in Microsoft dominate the OEM pre-install market on x86 architecture for home use. With the exception of the new x86 Mac hardware (which is highly restricted), purchasing a computer from a standard retailer without Microsoft Windows installed is next to impossible. There is of course no requirement to purchase a Windows license with new kit, but visit PC World and tell them you don't want Windows and they will probably tell you it's illegal to sell a computer without it.
The result of this domination is that the market is non-existent for the ordinary end consumer. We shouldn't therefore be surprised at the rise in Internet based crimes which exploits inherently weak security models. Of course, this is not to say there is a panacea for security, no computer can ever be truly secure, but the application of sensible information security principles in the development of systems really ought to make a difference. I wait for a full release version of Vista with baited breath.
All of these problem stems from one thing, and one thing only. The Windows security model. Pretty much by default under Windows XP everyone has full read, write and execute to the entire system by design. The result is that not particularly sophisticated websites can effectively execute code on client machine that is malicious.
Apparently, this might actually be something that is fixed in Windows Vista although I have yet to see the evidence of that, and I'm a tad cynical of it actually being true. Under POSIX based systems, i.e. Linux, OSX, etc, these sort of things simply cannot happens unless the user is logged into the system as root, and if they are, they deserve it for being stupid.
All roads lead to Microsoft when it comes to prevalence of malware that creates drone networks of compromised machines. Security is not the basis of the OS and the notion of least privileged access to core system actions, such as the installation of software, and the ability to access raw sockets so easily makes the uneducated vulnerable.
Sadly, the marketing team in Microsoft dominate the OEM pre-install market on x86 architecture for home use. With the exception of the new x86 Mac hardware (which is highly restricted), purchasing a computer from a standard retailer without Microsoft Windows installed is next to impossible. There is of course no requirement to purchase a Windows license with new kit, but visit PC World and tell them you don't want Windows and they will probably tell you it's illegal to sell a computer without it.
The result of this domination is that the market is non-existent for the ordinary end consumer. We shouldn't therefore be surprised at the rise in Internet based crimes which exploits inherently weak security models. Of course, this is not to say there is a panacea for security, no computer can ever be truly secure, but the application of sensible information security principles in the development of systems really ought to make a difference. I wait for a full release version of Vista with baited breath.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)