Midnight in somewhere

The next morning there was a hundred car pile up near this road house.

The greatest basin in the world

Auto soap
Auto water
Auto dry

All in the one place.

Japanese Comedy

English Class

The problem with Sneaky hats and teens

The recent trend of posting ‘sneaky hat’ pictures on the Internet has started to cause a stir in the news. The trend involves taking a picture of a near naked subject with a hat covering their genital areas, then posting this photo to sites such as facebook and tumblr. The meme gained some popularity in mid-November of 2011 with a group of 15 year old boys in Australia creating a facebook page for the subject matter, which rapidly gained followers and accordingly content. A webpage ‘sneakyhatboys[dot]com was created at the same time.

The popularity of this meme with teenagers has created concerns in the wider community. Those involved with the facebook page have been quoted as stating that the page was started because they “just thought it was funny”, and attempted to justify their actions because “... mum saw it, she knew and just thought it was funny." (Lees, Philippa, Ninemsn, 22 November 2011).

If you combine this with the facebook’s description which stated “This page is restricted to people 17 and over so don’t complain about kids seeing it. I’ll also be vigilant at removing all porn. Let’s do this right! PS showing ballsak and soft d**k isn’t porn you f**king morons” (http://www.redditpics.com/i-introduce-you-to-the-sneaky-hat-i-think-its,377719/ 23 November 2011).

This points to a clear lack of understanding of the law in Australia (where these persons reside).

The Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures Act as amended in 2006 gives this definition of child pornography.

child pornography material means:

(a) material that depicts a person, or a representation of a person,

who is, or appears to be, under 18 years of age and who:

(i) is engaged in, or appears to be engaged in, a sexual pose

or sexual activity (whether or not in the presence of

other persons); or

(ii) is in the presence of a person who is engaged in, or

appears to be engaged in, a sexual pose or sexual

activity;

and does this in a way that reasonable persons would regard

as being, in all the circumstances, offensive; or

(b) material the dominant characteristic of which is the

depiction, for a sexual purpose, of:

(i) a sexual organ or the anal region of a person who is, or

appears to be, under 18 years of age; or

(ii) a representation of such a sexual organ or anal region;

or

(iii) the breasts, or a representation of the breasts, of a

female person who is, or appears to be, under 18 years

of age;

in a way that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all

the circumstances, offensive; or

(c) material that describes a person who is, or is implied to be,

under 18 years of age and who:

(i) is engaged in, or is implied to be engaged in, a sexual

pose or sexual activity (whether or not in the presence

of other persons); or

(ii) is in the presence of a person who is engaged in, or is

implied to be engaged in, a sexual pose or sexual

activity;

and does this in a way that reasonable persons would regard

as being, in all the circumstances, offensive; or

(d) material that describes:

(i) a sexual organ or the anal region of a person who is, or

is implied to be, under 18 years of age; or

(ii) the breasts of a female person who is, or is implied to

be, under 18 years of age;

and does this in a way that reasonable persons would regard

as being, in all the circumstances, offensive.

http://www.cybercrimeforum.org/data/C2006C00305.pdf

The statement on the facebook page that material involving people 17 years old is already admitting that the subjects could the age criteria for images of a child and that depictions of genitalia are considered acceptable under his definition of acceptable content, i.e. things not porn. The law is accompanied by an explanatory memorandum that urges sanity in the enforcement of the law, and defines home pictures of your children as outside the intent of the legislation. http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r2131_ems_c79a0bd1-87a4-42e4-be65-485ba6850273/upload_pdf/66344.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf

Facebook and ISPs are obligated to report the page to the federal police under the same act.

The bigger issue here beyond youth creating and distributing child pornography is the apparent lack of understanding of the consequence of their actions. These acts are illegal not as an act of moral censorship, that is legislated elsewhere. The purpose of these laws is to protect children from being or becoming victims. Creating a method that encourages public access to these images creates an opportunity for sexual harassment, verbal abuse, child grooming and physical abuse. These images will very likely be re-distributed on other forums for voyeristic behaviour such as isanyoneup[dot]com and most certainly wind up in the archives of pornography collectors, and paedophiles around the world.

Even the pictures that cover more than a bathing suit does, create the potential for harm when put on the internet in this context. Ms. Angie Varona became infamous after uploading some images of herself in a bikini to a private site in 2007 when she was 14 years old. The pictures spread across the internet and Ms. Varona was soon bullied at school and began to receive threats of rape and had her personal details spread worldwide. She had to change schools twice and is still now suffering from the effects of the harassment that came from putting those images on the Internet. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060065/Angie-Varona-Most-Googled-teen-tears-risqu-photos-ruined-life.html?ito=feeds-newsxml)

Let’s just hope that the people in power don’t get carried away with this issue and let the current laws that we have do their job. Also the media should take this as an opportunity to educate teenagers about the dangers of spreading images online.

The first picture ever uploaded to the internet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Les_Horribles_Cernettes_in_1992.jpg) is still there, nearly twenty years later. Imagine having a picture of a pimply faced kid in nothing but a hat being mentioned at the interview when you are applying for that prestigious position twenty years from now.

Word of the week.

자리끼 (n)
Bedtime drinking-water, drinking water placed on the bedside for night use.



Because sometimes you need to be just that little bit more specific.

Scams and Phishing emails

Every now and then a message makes it past all of the systems that we have for preventing spam.   The use of email for crime on the Internet is still rife and a lack of caution with such emails is a leading cause of loss through fraud or infection with malware.

It is one thing to say that you should take care, but what does that actually mean ?   How does one take care ?   Let have a look at some email with malicious intentions to find the signs.

From: robertmeans

Subject: I miss you

Date: November 2, 2011 11:36:46 PM GMT+09:00

Hello dear  I am a good looking young lady. My family think I am reliable and well-balanced. 

I am 28 years. I want to meet straightforward man for serious relationship. I have light hair  and black eyes. I am looking for a man, who will be the only one in my life, who will be everything for me.  Age is of no importance. I think that age is not a number of years but a great experience in life. I'm not married. Maybe it's fate! 

My details here:   http://innocent.looking.site.con Goodbye!

Well, Robert seems like an interesting fellow doesn't she.  There are a few things that you should pay attention to here.  The first is the marketing aspects of the email.  This email is targeted at a men 35~65 who aren't married.  The requirements for that man a deliberately vague and the information is attempting to elicit an emotional response, first good looking then reliable.  It is important then to look at grammar and punctuation, spellcheckers have a difficult time with punctuation.  There is no comma after 'dear' which should be capitalized. Common phrases in English are difficult to translate directly from other languages, one isn't "28 years", one is human that is "28 years old"  Articles in English are difficult for non-native speakers, he should be looking for 'a serious relationship'.  That said though, the language used in these emails is improving. Cultural nuance such as describing yourself as 'well-balanced' is another give away, it is technically correct but not something that one would say in this context.  

Clicking on the link in the original email (I did change that) would see you on your way to getting malware, some phishing and maybe some dating fraud.  

This is the least dangerous type of spam, as it is an amateur attempt. I would guess that it is from Western Africa from the use of the name Robert (they do use that name a lot, I don't know why) and the email hoaxed from mamboo.net, which is a french site.   

These emails do get much more complex.

The following is an example of what is called 'spear phishing'. Phishing is an attempt to get information of varying value by casting putting some kind of bait out on the Internet with a method of getting information back.  The last email could be attempting phishing if the site you visited had a form for a name, phone number, password etc.  Spear phishing is a targeted attempt. Rather than trying to get any fish that swims past it is directed at a particular fish.  This doesn't necessarily mean that the perpetrator is personally targeting an individual, the process can be automated.  That is a particular feature of the Internet.  Consider the following:

  

From: Marianna Bucci

Subject: Michael Joyce

Date: November 1, 2011 3:38:11 AM GMT+09:00

Good afternoon! 

If you see this message this means that you have probably subscribed to mailing lists on one of the job portals. 

We've found your email address there, and currently we have a great job offer. 

Our company is an international company, specialized in development of complex, leading edge projects in the financial industry. 

Due to the expansion of business, currently our company is recruiting personnel in Australia. 

No previous experience is required and there are no requirements for this position, almost anyone is eligible. 

Should this offer seem to be interesting for you, please contact us asap for more information. 

If you provide us with your phone number and your name, and our manager will get in contact with you and answer all the queries you might have. 

We apologize for any inconveniences caused concerning direct emailing. 

We look forward to hearing from you at you earliest convenience. 

______________________________ 

Local News: gugatan ke paspampres tunggu visum.  

This is a level up.  The marketing is targeted a lot wider; ages 18~65, male or female.  There are a few grammar errors in this one, but the deliberate choice of a non-English name Marianna Bucci, makes it possible for the reader to rationalise the problems.  They have used my name as the subject to make sure they get my attention.  The marketing is a lot more subtle, they are promising financial industry work, which means larger salaries.   

How did they get my name ?   Information is harvested and bought and sold on the Internet. They have hinted at the method that they used to get the information.  If I have at sometime logged in a job search website and provided contact information for them to pass on to employers, or put my resume at a site then it is possible to log into the website as a potential employer and then harvest the information of all of the job seekers, giving a list of contact information and a good angle for the con.  Alternatively they could have bought the information from another group that did something similar.  

This con could be pure phishing, they might just be after the phone number, an address and confirmation that the email and name pair is valid.  They could then sell that information to other criminal groups for identity theft.  It is more likely that they have a small call center to monetize the scam through advance fraud, asking for money for processing visas, government documentation, travel fees and the like often pretending to be multiple companies to keep the individual amounts low enough to avoid suspicion.  The worse option is that this could be an opening for using an individual as a 'money mule'.  Money mules are used to launder money and make it harder to trace transfers.  After replying to the email you do a phone interview, they tell you that you have the job and they will send you a first payment of $250 to help you organise your affairs before starting work.  They accidentally send you $2,500 and call you to explain that a secretary put in an extra zero by mistake, and how they really need the money at the moment to organise something urgent today.  If you could please send the $2,250 extra to this account, or because of how quickly they need it, it would be better if you transfer it at Western Union to this account.  In doing that you have made it nearly impossible for police to trace that money from the illegal source to the recipient, by turning it into cash and then transferring it by systems that aren't very transparent.  The company never calls you back, and if the police are chasing that $2,500 of dirty money, they can trace 10% of it back to your account.  

This is a very clever email, and if you were looking for work at the time, it might be attractive to you.  They alarm bells should ring if you are thinking clearly.  What is the likelihood of a finance company offering a position working with complex, leading edge projects to someone with no qualifications or experience.  They have to say these things, to keep the net wide and raise your emotional greed response.  If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.  On the Internet that maxim is even more relevant.   This email is probably from Indonesia, the sender didn't take time to adjust some of the settings in hotmail that send localized advertising from microsoft partners, which is in Indonesian in this case.   Cybercrime in Indonesia is a growing issue, last month the were more searches for the term 'cybercrime' on google from Indonesia than any other country.  That is an indicator of current interest in the issue there at the moment.  

The biggest tool that you can use to avoid this kind of thing on the Internet is to treat these things as if it was offered to you by a gold chain wearing, fidgeting, mirrored glasses wearing car salesman who flinches at the sound of sirens.  Engage high suspicion, click cautiously, pay attention.  

If you are still not sure I recommend that you cut and paste sentences from the email and the word scam into google and see what comes up.  There are people working hard to counter the efforts of these scammers. 

Using this particular email as an example, I chose the phrase "Our company is an international company, specialized in development of complex, leading edge projects in the financial industry" as it is not likely to be a common phrase in other genuine websites and emails, and the word "scam".

That is a pretty good sign it is a con. 

It is interesting to note how the text has evolved over time, with the company changing from an incurance (insurance?) company and a holding company, being used as well as the financial company. 

Stay safe, use your head when using the Internet, your common sense is worth real dollars if you use it.  

Chain jumping fix

The chain guard is working. The gap is only 5mm, the chain height is 8 mm. The bike is riding like a dream now.

My Dahon X10 Folding bike

Mountains, Rivers, Trees  ... Seoul hides them near the bike paths.

This is my bike.  I have been taking it to work when I can.  It is a Dahon X10, it does everything that it says it will on the box, it is fast, it is light, it does fold up quickly. 

This being the blogosphere I do feel that I have to give a bit more information about this bike so that others that are considering buying one can be well informed.  I have done 350 kilometres on it so far, usually the 17 Km run to work, a few longer jaunts on the weekend though.

First off it IS a great bike.  The frame is stiff, likely due to the aluminum hydroform frame and the experience that dahon has with making the folding joints.  Having such small wheels and being so light it accelerates like nothing else.  It really upsets cars at the traffic lights and is nimble enough to ride through peak hour pedestrian scrambles near Seoul's metro stations.  It really does feel like a proper bike. 

There is one little issue however.

It might be trying to kill me. 

The stiffness of the frame combined with small hard wheels and the width of the rear gear cassette has made for a bit of a problem.  It does tend to throw the chain.  It hasn't happened when I am standing on the pedals yet, but if it does I will be leaving a few red marks on the pavement.  After trying to tweak the setup as much as possible my friendly bike mechanic gave up and organised to get a chain guard for me.  My bike is having a sleep over at the bike shop tonight while he gets colour matched anodised aluminium bolts to put the chain guard on with.  In all my years of riding a bike I never knew that a chain guard is not to guard you from the chain.  A better name would be chain guide, as its true function is to guide the chain back onto the gears if it jumps out toward your leg.  That should hopefully keep the chain on even if it does jump around a bit.  That is the plan anyway.  I have noticed that nycewheels bike shop in New York have switched the 10 cog cassette to an 8 cog cassette, still keeping the 11-36T ratios.   That might help but the changes probably wouldn't be as smooth.   I do strongly suggest that Dahon, and Tern who might have similar problems with their X10, look into this issue.  I understand it is very important for selling to have a super light bike, and yes 9.2 kilos is light for a folding bike, but the aluminium chain ring weighs nearly nothing and 9.25 kilos is not a deal breaker for anyone.  The lights I need to commute in the evening weigh more !

Oh if you do need a bike shop and are in Seoul, I can't recommend afrobike (http://afrobike.co.kr/) enough.  Talk about bend over backwards.  I took the bike there to have it assembled after it arrived in a box from an internet seller.  They put it together for a fee, and have now sort of assumed responsibility for its well-being.  They replaced a part that was damaged in the shipping of the bike and helped us get a refund for that part. I have been in there every other week with the chain issue and haven't paid another cent and they always greet me with a concerned smile.  If you can get service like that in Korea, you should be able to get it anywhere.  Have that example in mind next time you visit your mechanic and see if they measure up. 

The stiffness of the frame does also result in a fair bit of vibration being transferred into your 'sit bones' but I am getting a little more conditioned  with time.  Also bear in mind that if you adjust the bars into their full forward position then it doesn't fold quite as neatly as it otherwise would.  That is not an issue though, I quite happily carry it up five floors to the apartment, and it sits in a compact little bundle next to my desk at work.

 It is quite quick too.  93 gear inches is a bit less than the 108 to 118 that the big racers have, but my knees have had a pretty tough run and I don't know if they are up to the task of pushing those big gears at the moment. Furthermore, I don't spend that much time on the road playing with cars, and when I do it is short bursts between traffic lights. The 93 gear inches is enough that I spend most of my time overtaking the lycra clad ajoshi on bike paths as it is.  I can get up around 40 km/h when I need to ( I am quite sure I could go faster, but the chain thing make me a little cautious about standing on the pedals).  The bike is stable enough, I have gotten it up to 48 km/h and it was quite steady.  I was a bit worried about the fact that it only has 14 spokes on each of the wheels, but it hasn't missed a beat so far the wheels are still straight even though I have hit a few bumps that jumped out at me. The brakes are great, and I have needed them a few times.  The bike is composed and well behaved even when starting to powerslide.   

I am hoping to get another 150 k's in before things start icing up, it is great fun riding about and so much better to go to work on this than in the train.  I might get sweaty, but it is my sweat and I get to ride along the Han river!.


 If anyone out there found this while trying to decide on whether or not to buy a Dahon x10, feel free to get in contact.  I understand that the distribution outside of Asia has been a little light so far. 

The weather for this month is serene

 

This chart is from the Korean Meterological Administrations Website.

Don't let this chart fool you.  Real spring and Autumn weather last about 2 weeks.  It is already dipping dangerously close to single figures and it is just the start of October.

Philosophy

Don't think about philosophy and then attempt to do anything useful.  Like Rincewind's spell in the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett, it doesn't take kindly to company in your head. 

Let's take a question posed in my Human Resources Management Class this week. 

Given organisations are in a constant state of flux, is HR planning all that useful in a modern context? 

 

Valid question, something that requires a thoughtful, practical answer.  Not all that easy though if you have been considering life, the universe, and everything recently.  

If you are given to skepticism, In the manner of David Hume then there is no clear relationship between events, it is a casual fling at best, performing an action doesn't guarantee a particular reaction.  If you press a light switch, you can't be sure the light will come on (perhaps the bulb has blown). 

Since you can't be sure that an action will cause a result, why would you plan anything given that the outcome is unknown ? 

Hume decided that the better question was perhaps, how could you not.  Life without the projection of events based on casual relationships would be impossible.  Why would you eat, if you were not sure that it would satisfy your hunger ? You do eat, it is a part of life, as Hume put it "nothing is more usual".  Planning is then a consequence of usual and necessary behavior (if you don't want to stay hungry then you plan to eat knowing that it will sate hunger), and so planning is not the question here, it is a norm. 

Heraclitus would certainly help us with this flux problem, he was a scientific kind of guy and he practically invented the idea.  

 

On those stepping into rivers staying the same other and other waters flow.

 

That a river flows and that the water is constantly changing is necessary for the river to exist as it is without changing (into a lake). Constant flux is just that, constant and it defines existence. Without it organisations would not be organisations as we know them,  the modern age would not be the modern age without the flux.  In fact any age would not be an age without that flux element, it is in fact so much a constant that it should be taken out of the question as it is an inherent part of the environment in which the question is asked.  

 

So the question is:

 

 Is Human Resources useful ? 

 

Well .... Yes, aren't all resources (i.e.  assets that can be drawn on  in order to function effectively) useful ?  


Somehow I don't think that answer will get me the mark.

What you want in clothes

That's right ladies, step right up to RT's Avenue where the Trand schedule calls for styles that are:

• romantic
• sophisticated
• modrn
• exotic
• mannish

If you are feeling sophisticated and mannish, you are just too trandy today. 

CORPSE

I have heard many a girl cry "OMG, it's tooo cute !!"


I have discovered the other end of the spectrum "OMG, not cute enough"



Teddy .... Teddy !?!?   

Refreshing

Obviously this isn't a recent image but I thought I should share it with you while I am looking at some older photos. I am not sure if it is even possible to dip a toe in there.

Guess what this is about

Ten  points if you can guess what it says.  (Post your guess as a comment)

Windows Vista

Honestly I think that they must have not liked the scooter all that much.  On the other hand, maybe it is slow, difficult to drive, starts slowly and occasionally crashes for no reason.

Happy Thailand

This is a promotional poster for a package holiday to Thailand. Holiday in Thailand for a Happy Ending ! It makes you wonder if they were aware of the double meaning there. Was it someone's last day ? I really hope that there is nothing sinister here.

Fun fact:

Section 7 of the Thai Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E 2539 (1996) States that:
Any person who advertises or agrees to advertise, induces or introduces by means of documents or printed matters, or by any means makes known to the public in a manner apparently indicative of importunity or solicitation for the prostitution of oneself or another person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of six months to two years or to a fine of then thousand to forty thousand Baht or to both.
(http://www.thailaws.com/index_thai_laws.htm)

Flooding

They say if it rains lemons, make lemonade. If it floods, go fishing in the park from the highway.

Yes that is a bike path sign there.

That is the submerged toilet block that they are fishing next to.