Neolithic Windows security hole alive and well in Windows 7

Well, surprise, surprise.

This 17 year-old Windows 7 security hole -- dating from the long-gone days of NT -- is older than any two of my nieces & nephews.

Any two. Pick 'em!

1905 Trolley Ride Down Market Street

Cool trolley-mounted video (00:13:53) of a pre-Quake 1905 ride along Market Street in San Francisco.



That's the Ferry Building there at the far end.

Excrement in the streets. Traffic lane markers as pretty much just suggestions. Clueless pedestrians.

Just like today.

Seen: Zero Electric Motorcycle

Seen (but not heard) while out & about the other evening in Scotts Valley: a locally-built Zero Electric Motorcycle (street version).

These may not be bad for some light motocross, but with completely silent operation (Loud Pipes Save Lives) and a maxiumum range of only 60 miles they're not really ready for primetime.

Oldie-but-Goodie: Triumph vs. the Star Wars Nerds

Part I


Part II

Ubuntu 9.10 almost here!

Amazing Sunset Tonight

My cell phone camera doesn't do it justice.

Why I'm Not Upgrading to Windows 7, Either

Sorry, Microsoft, you blew you chances with Vista (which I have to use at the office, and hate).

Who's Editing at the Press Boner?

As previously noted here, there's always plenty of cringeworthy writing over at that local ad-supported rag, the Scotts Valley Press-Banner. Examples range from biased coverage, to self-indulgent inanities penned by the paper's owner*, to swine flu hysteria, and more.

This has never been more true, now that the former talent-deprived editorial staff of one has retired and a new crop of twenty-something embryos is itching to "make a difference."

Witness the below journalistic lapse, vividly described in the Letters page by reader Christina Wise of Boulder Creek:



What would possess fledgling journalist Michelle Camerlingo to insert such irrelevancies into an otherwise garden-variety puff-piece? Was it her sheer inexperience, or was this flatulence reference a coy attempt to be edgy?

And how could any self-respecting editor -- assuming any editing is in fact taking place -- let such tripe go to press?

As a publication wholly underwritten by its advertising revenue, the Press-Banner's first commitment to quality journalism may not be to its readers. But its advertisers should expect -- and demand -- better.

* That's what blogs are for!

Bob Ross SIngs!

Got Water?

Seen during a torrential rainstorm today in Scotts Valley, CA:



I'd say the drought is over.

Site of the Week: menwholooklikeoldlesbians

This site was worth a Tuesday morning guffaw.

The Nobamel Peace Prize

'nuff said.

BREAKING: 0BAMA WINS 2009 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, KANYE WEST INTERRUPTS!

"Yo 0bama, I'm really happy for you, I'm'a let you finish -- but Yassir Arafat had one of the best Nobel Peace Prizes of all time -- OF ALL TIME!"

In related news, it was revealed today that 0bama also became McDonald's 10 billionth customer.

CHICAGOWNED!

Snagging photo off the Intarweb: Free

Whipping together snarky graphic: 5 minutes

Witnessing a smug sense of Obama-fueled Olympic entitlement come crashing brutally to Earth: Priceless.

And Another Stuff

Regular Unleaded gas here is over $3/gallon again.

Funny. No hyperventilation about this from the Lamestream Media in the Age of 0bama.

The Most Bullsh*t Car Ad of All Time

Car pitchmen have a well-deserved rep for ... embellishing their claims.

But this recent GM ad with Obama-installed aparatchik GM Chairman Edward Whiteacre Jr. takes the cake for sheer, unadorned chutzpah.



Let's dissect this faux-folksy piece of rhetorical dreck:

Before I started this job, I admit I had some doubts. Probably a lot like you.

Make that exactly like me, Ed. And nothing you've said here allays those doubts.

But I like what I've found. I think you will, too.

Given GM's past performance history and ongoing bloated Union -- and management -- compensation packages, even in light of tax breaks, I retort, "NBL." Not. Bloody. Likely.

Car-for-car, when compared to the competition, we win. Simple as that.

What color is the sky in your world? Car-for-car, when compared to the competition, you lost. Hence the need for your bankruptcy and that $50 billion bailout. Simple as that.

I just know that if you get into one of our cars, you're going to like what you see. So we're putting our money where our mouth is.

No, you're putting my money where your mouth is.

Buy a new Chevy, Buick, GMC or Cadillac -- and if you're not 100% happy, return it. We'll take it back. That's our new sixty-day satisfaction guarantee.

That's an old marketing gimmick. I'm unhappy enough to be cynical enough to suspect that your return process will not be anything near that simple.

And as always you'll get our 100,000 mile, five-year powertrain warranty on every vehicle (fineprint: Whichever comes first. See dealer for limited warranty details). That's how strongly we feel about our cars and how committed we are to you.

A $50 billion bailout divided by 305 million U.S. population results in a $164.00 gift to GM per U.S. resident (fineprint: this assumes that all of those 305M U.S. residents pay taxes -- they don't -- and ignores corporate and other Federal taxes). For that kind of money, it's the least GM could do.

So put us to the test. Put us up against anyone. And may the best car win.

Sure, after the $50 billion bailout you're all about the Free Market.

The best car already won, Ed. It wasn't yours.

Woodstock: Enough, Already

In just a few sentences Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun Times nails, absolutely nails, what I've come to detest about the 60s generally and Woodstock specifically:

Imagine growing up, an impressionable child, watching all those supposedly pivotal 1960s events -- Woodstock, the riots at the Democratic National Convention, the moon landing -- on your parents' black-and-white Zenith TV in the living room of your suburban tract house in Berea, Ohio.

It quickly gave the impression that we lived in Noplace, that life, the important stuff in life, was always going on Somewhere Else. That, by 1974, every significant thing that might conceivably happen had already occurred. I had missed the feast but was free to pick over the scraps, had missed the party and arrived for the cleanup, the dismal denouement of the 1970s, a miserable void of disco and leisure suits and meaninglessness, at least by the judgment of the people who had so much freaky fun at Woodstock while we were busy learning cursive.

Doesn't it ever go away? How long must we gaze raptly at the enormous waddling rump of the Early Baby Boom? Forever? Not that we want our turn, no way -- hard experience has made us better than that.

Georgia Dem Rep. Has Meltdown Tirade When Doctor in Crowd Presses on ObamaCare - Video 8/7/09

If ever there was proof that our Congresscritters aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, witness this bombast from Georgia Democrat Rep. David Scott when, in an open public forum, a medical doctor asks him pointed questions about ObamaCare:



Clearly rattled by upstart questions at an`event he expected to sleepwalk through, Scott's increasingly unglued pol hack responses range from:

1. an insouciant denial that he even knew what the doctor was asking about, to
   
2. claiming that he hadn't yet formulated a position on the issue, to
   
3. attempting to cast his questioner as some "outsider" bent on upsetting the proceedings (in fact the doctor is from Scott's own district and had received no response from Scott in previous calls to his office)

See also iowahawk's excellent treatment of this dynamic: Crisis of Confidence: America's Government Losing Faith in Out-of-Touch Constituents

And kudos to 11alive News on that balanced presentation.

Cute video: Backpacker Cat

Per the host site, "This cat wanted to see the world, so he made his master carry him around the globe."

Brilliant Woman Solves All of California's Problems

Open-Mike Night at the Santa Cruz City Council, 5/13/08.

Moonbeam Patchouli here holds forth.



Unnngh. Welcome to my world.

p.s. -- I like the lonely Golf Clap she gets at the end.

Weekend Ruminations: Shelf Life of Ketchup Packets

Yes, the topic has been previously assailed by other scholars, but the question nonetheless presented itself this weekend.



The short answer appears to be 5-7 years.

The Kentucky Fried Chicken dining experience generates strange and exotic peripherals ...



... like honey (?). 11% Real!



A Great Culling of Ketchup (catsup?) packets took place, but a good many still remain.

KAHNBLOG: Pondering the Imponderables since 2005.

End of Q2 Cupcakes

Carrotcake cupcakes appeared by my desk.

Bobo for BOBA

KahnBlog's new favorite summer drink: Thai Iced Tea with tapioca pearls ("Boba").

BING!

Cute Evian Baby Commercial

Why I'm Not Upgrading to Vista, Part ... (I lost count)

Your eyes do not deceive you.

Microsoft is resorting to vomitus to sell their latest browser.

Site of the Week: whythef**kdoyouhaveakid.com

If:

• You've ever wanted a rejoinder to the lazy rhetoric of "As a parent..." being the lead-in to an inferred qualification to pontificate on any subject; or
  
• You're sick and tired of "As a single parent..." being used as a premise for some responsibility dodge; or
  
• You wonder what becomes of those who give more thought to buying their next pair of shoes than they do to the awesome responsibility that is parenthood; or
  
• You just can't get enough of the life-as-street-theater fustercluckery that is The Maury Povich Show;

...this site is for you.




Really, really suboptimal parenting skills on display here.

Total Visibility

I hate being snuck up on from behind at the office.

Winner, "Most Meaningless Award Ever" Award

Seen somewhere at the office today.

Imagine the awards ceremony presentation:

"Hey, man. You're Certified Great."
"No, man. You're great."
"No, you."

When Pigs Flu

Having stoked the Swine Flu hysteria on its front page several weeks ago, then vamping for a few weeks when the illness didn't occur, the Scotts Valley Press-Banner finally had its prayers answered last week when not one, but two actual local incidences of the disease turned up.

So how did they handle the story?

Buried it on page 5.



Honestly, I don't know what those people are smoking over there.

Mountain Wingsuit Insanity

These guys are nuts.

Week Two: Death of an Illness?

No longer front page news, we find this tiny blurb tucked away on page 2 of this week's Scotts Valley Press-Boner:



Nor, it occurs to us at KahnBlog, was the hype of two weeks ago even necessary for such a small, free publication.

It's not like the P-B needs to rely on such cheap stunts to get people to buy their paper. Delivered weekly to your mailbox, this is journalism that's inflicted on you.

All we can hope is that next week's local incidence of Swine Flu Hysteria will appear in the obits.

Site of the Week: nothired.com

Stumbled across this website while doing a search for something completely different.

It's a collection of some of the strangest, funniest, and most pathetic job hunt responses imaginable. Clearly, these folks weren't good job candidates.

Not surprisingly, there's a lot of craigslist flakery. Peep this:



and this:


And this:


nothired.com: Full of Fail!