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Guest author: MF
Now, Halo 2 has been great to play with my friends, and I could occasionally win a battle or two against them. However, one of my ingenious friends thought it would be a great idea to play online against other Halo 2 gamers around the world. This way, we could test our gaming skills and see how good we had gotten.
This was probably the worst idea ever!
Last night I went to this restaurant (little "mom and pop" place) and ordered fried shrimp. Actually I got shrimp and baked potato with salad and tea, you know - southern boy food. Honestly,I was not expecting all that much, but when it arrived at the table it looked ok. But the "BAM" hit me when I bit into it. The first bite took me by surprise...it was unlike any shrimp I had tried in a long time. It was really great!
It wasn't’t mushy like some of the stuff I’ve had before. I thought maybe it was the batter, but that wasn't explaining enough for me...the batter wasn't THAT much better. It was the shrimp itself...and being the curious type that I am, I asked the server if they knew what kind of shrimp this was. Of course, she didn't’t know but said she would check. She was extremely busy, apparently, but eventually came back and said that the shrimp they ordered didn't have any water or MSG pumped into it, and that was the defining difference. I know a little about MSG, at least I know that Kramer orders extra MSG on his Chinese food, but thought it had to do with Asian food only...and was primarily used as a flavor enhancer... why would one use it with shrimp? If you order it, who do you order it from? Where can I get more shrimp like this? Do they sell just in restaurants? Grocery stores?
The server couldn't answer my questions (surprise) so I guess I ask the question? Does anyone know what I'm talking about...is not adding MSG to shrimp making the difference here?
Yes!!! The numbers are real...yes, someone has been calling me since the MOMENT they were released on the web...no I am not taking Paris out for ice cream now that she has done this to me!!! (please click on the pic...and look real close)
Just in case you don't know what is going on with this...here is the bigger story behind this blitz. T-Mobile was just recently hacked, revealing all of the customer information and account passwords for all of its users.The salacious side of this...Paris Hilton, and her Sidekick II (of which one I own - gulp) had her celebrity friends numbers and emails, notes, photos, and some of her emails all published on the internet. The hackers got to this through the accompanying web site that syncs with all the information placed on her Sidekick. The list of celebrities was somewhat extensive, wonder if they will giver her their numbers if she asks for them again?
In a related but bigger story is that "Court records suggest the hacker was in T-Mobile's systems for at least a year, ending with his arrest in October 2004." This guy hacked into the server and obtained Secret Service information...and was publishing it on IRC chat circles.A friend of Jacobsen's (hacker) in the IRC community, William Genovese, confirmed that account, and said Jacobsen gave him copies of digital photos that celebrities had snapped with their cell phone cameras. Last month Genovese provided SecurityFocus with an address on his website featuring what appears to be grainy candid shots of Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Nicole Richie, and Paris Hilton. He said Wednesday that he's since removed the photos at Jacobsen's request.
T-Mobile declined to discuss specific victims. Reached by phone, Hilton's manager said the company has not notified Hilton of a breach.
Now free on bail and living in Oregon, Jacobsen faces a maximum possible sentence of five years imprisonment. Sentencing is set for the 16th of May. Full story about Jacobsen.
But besides the MASSIVE amounts of comment fodder this has created, every so often a voice like this has sounded off;
This hack makes me think about the desperate actions celebs (and others) have been forced to take to ensure small facets of their lives remain private. A constant invasion like this in no small way led to the death of Princess Diana. This is not really on topic, but I have long been of the opinion that half of all money made from any media exploitation is owed to the subject involved, be it celeb, or just an average joe on the evening news (unless the subject has committed a crime.) A celeb, for example, could give the extra money to a favorite charity and have comfort knowing that every paparazzi photo is benefiting causes they care about. (Or it could just go to their bank account). Of course this may be impossible to implement, but it sure would help take the sting off the invasion. So pay up engadget; you owe all these victims half the Vonage Ad money I see on this page! P.S. I also peeked at the pictures!
reply to a post from Engadget
Then there is this..."paris made me change my number" t-shirts for sale.
On a personal note...I'm not propogating BrainBlenders with celebrity numbers, Paris Hilton photos, and such...I wrote this article as an entertainment piece with a slightly (very slightly) more serious note...your security online is still questionable. Just be aware that whatever you THINK is locked down... is NOT completely invulnerable. On a related note: AmyWafl sent me this link...about mobile viruses that is also applicable. That's why the CIA stores all it's important stuff...offline. Just a thought, not a completely paranoid one...but a thought.
Update to the Cabir Virus - Thanks AmyWafl
"An unusual advertising spot for a local piercing shop in Rotterdam - the board behind the basket and the basket itself! Yes, it's the new ballboard. These new baskets we're placed smack dab between a high-school and a mosque in the last week of 2004, the hoop has been replaced by a larger than life nipple close-up and piercing ring instead... Naturally locals began complaining immediately, attracting the local and national press attention as they covered it and soon the basket had to be removed."
Natalie Dee is an artist...she has daily drawings. I wish more people did this instead of complaining through blogs...(hey, wait did I just do that?...damnit)
You can get your Daily Drew as well...he doesn't have paintings like Natalie...but he did come up with the concept of the iPod for Meat! Got your attention right?
Underwear Goes Inside the Pants - lyrics
"Americans, let’s face it: We’ve been a spoiled country for a long time.
Do you know what the number one health risk in America is?
Obesity. They say we’re in the middle of an obesity epidemic.
An epidemic like it is polio. Like we’ll be telling our grand kids about it one day.
The Great Obesity Epidemic of 2004.
“How’d you get through it grandpa?”
“Oh, it was horrible Johnny, there was cheesecake and pork chops everywhere.”
Lazyboy stuff is more like hilarious spoken word than singing...but I love this line so much I had to post it.
When random people ask you what you're in town for...and I say..."talking to Giant Eagle", and they respond...."That's MY store! I love what they do with the advantage cards...and the fuel points!!" ...well, that's love.
Then Alton took me on a passionate journey of how he and his wife go to Giant Eagle and one time she forgot to use his advantage card and so he missed out on the points...and it pissed him off. If you could get people half that fired up about politics - then elections would have 100% turn out.
From DT....Special Contributor to BrainBlenders, master observer, and I think he has nailed the concept of guerilla:
First thought...and the basis for everything I do - LOOK where others look, but SEE what they do not see. Said another way...by Jerry Garcia by way of Jimmy Buffett. "Once in awhile you get shown the light...in the strangest places...if you look at it right"
Guerilla starts with being still and observing, participating, not measuring, predicting, assuming, and forecasting.
Guerilla is from within, not from afar. It's anthropology vs. demography.
Guerilla is about insights, patterns in chaos, not patterns readily visible.
Try this on for size... (from new show - NUMB3RS on CBS).
From the position of a rotating lawn sprinkler, you can not predict the exact impact point of any drop of water coming from the sprinkler head, there are simply too many variables - droplet size, velocity, wind, etc.
However, if you know the exact impact point of several of the water droplets, you can accurately predict the exact location of the sprinkler.
Don't stand behind the sprinkler predicting the drops (classic research approach), stand among the water drops and find the sprinkler!
That's guerilla!!