lwood

I was knitting away on

countgeiger's Diamond Waffle Sock, a Present of WinterÞing delayed by the tag-stonewalling-team of

countgeiger and

dpaxson--he didn't want his socks 'til I was done knitting a sweater out of the yarn

dpaxson bought me for WinterÞing, thankyouverymuch.

Of course, there are times when one cannot knit a sweater as it grows toward its end, and for this, one takes a more portable project--which is why I had a sock in hand, and a sweater in the bag...( WiP Pics and knitting geek digression inside--the real sheep here is outside the box. )

In a nearby seat, a lady pulled out a rosary and began, silently, to pray it. Not something you would notice unless you knew what a rosary looked like in use (said the former Catholic). I caught her eye, smiled, and nodded.

While I'm not a fan of rote prayers, I admit I have a soft spot in my heart for the Rosary. Perhaps it's the stories we were told, back when I was a good little Catholic girl in good little Catholic school, or perhaps it's that now I can look back on it and see it as a lengthy meditation, not unlike a mantra, syllables sliding over one another until meaning is lost, and only mystery remains.

A good while later, I thought the lady next to me was looking at my sock--no, she was just zoned out.

But.

The lady with the rosary emerged from her meditations as I made my apologies. "Oh! You work very fast, very pretty--I see you with your sweater, and now with a sock!"

I handed her the sock. "It's for my husband."

"He's very lucky!"

I grinned. "Would you like to see the sweater, too?"

"Oh, yes, please!" The disinterested lady has made her stop and leaves, swapping it for someone with more interest, who doesn't mind wool passing before her eyes.

Rosary Lady coos even more. "Such pretty patterns! How do you follow them?"

"Oh--one stitch at a time, like anything else."

"Ah--I cannot do anything like that. I just pray."

I'd always had trouble getting through a whole rosary. "Ah, well, now, we could use more of that, too, I think."

"Pfft!"

"No, really!" I gathered up my work and began knitting on the sweater, then winked. "I'll tell you another thing: sometimes, knitting is a prayer, too."

We shared a grin, then went back to our labors as the BART rolled on.

She must have seen me before, to remark as she did, and I'd not noticed.

Do you know what others you touch as you spin your thread behind you, crossing the spaces?

All of them?

Does anyone?

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

The latest entry in Freya Aswynn's blog is one whose sentiment I can sort-of understand, but whose message I find rather disturbing.

Go. Read. I'll be here when you get back.

( My response is here. )

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

In today's

icelandreview RSS round-up, the following article:

Feature of the Week: Tongue Untied.

The sufficiently Odin-inclined will find several elements of interest in this pleasant interview of a highly mathematically inclined savant and synaesthete who learned Iceland in two weeks (!!). I, like many, find a certain Odin smell around highly intellectual people in general, particularly if they've got an unusual perspective. However, this particular gent is speaking, cheerfully, of the relationships that are apparent to him between mathematics and spoken languages...it can make a girl light-headed, it can!

( But what made me nearly bust out laughing at my desk is something I'll hide behind an lj-cut to avoid spoilers... )

Also in this week's collection from IR is a "recipe" (we are using this term loosely) for kjötsúpa--clear broth of lamb with root crop, herbs and beans. This mightn't be a bad thing for Hrafnar's Disablot in a couple weeks...

Edit to Add HAI I CAN HAS LINK NIAO? Wow, Lorrie, when you tempt people with lamb stew, give them a link to the recipe, why don't you? Sheesh.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

(a non-ongoing, non-consecutively numbered series, nicked proudly from

camwyn)

While on the several sundry shuttles that get me to the Mad Scientists' Home, I espy one of many signs promoting the new Third Street Light Rail, which will be known as the "T" for "Third".

"But Third doesn't start with a 'T', it starts with a Þ!"^*

Imagine, if you will, a City by the Bay spreckled with Þ's--yes, gentles, San Francisco would be sticking its tongue out at you. Neener!

But no, instead we flush several centuries of West Norse and Anglo-Saxon typography right down the drain and settle on T.

I blame the Normans. Silly Normans...

-- Lorrie 8-Þ

^* - Note for the Orthographically Challenged: Þ, and its lowercase partner in crime þ is a character known as "thorn" or "thurs" (giant/Jotun/etc), depending on which rune poem you're citing--in HTML, the Anglo-Saxon 'thorn' wins out...for a letter only in modern use in Icelandic, go figure. It may represent either of the two phonemes that in Modern English are relegated to the low-rent dyad^† 'th': the voiceless interdental fricative demonstrated above (third), or the voiced dental fricative of the 'th' in 'the'. In Icelandic, it's only for the voiceless version; the voiced gets the also stylish, also underused eth, spelled Ð and ð.

^†‡ - Dyad. It means pair, for when those times "pair" is insufficiently snooty. Don't blame me, blame Edred Thorsson.

^‡ - My footnotes can so have footnotes of their own! See!

Current Mood: weird
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

You know, out here in the tall grass, there are a lot of things which, when you've done them, you've no idea whether you've done a damn bit of good.

Was I talking out of my ass when I gave that cryptic oracular pronouncement?

Is anyone actually going to read a website I just spent a zillion hours designing?

How long will it be before that stupid user gets malware all over their computer again?

Why is that potential priest doing all he can to be come a complete shiny-chasing poser?

Friends, I'm here to tell you that cleaning up shit is not one of these things. I do not offer incontinent crazy dying lady excrement as a panacea for the world's ills, but it certainly provides a bit of perspective.

The limited scope a scrub-brush, some cleaning solution, and the offending poo provide is really easy to get your head around and, when you've done it and laid down a nice fat layer of Lysol in your wake, you really know you've made a small, positive change in the world--or at least the world of said dying crazylady.

The real universal compassion points would come when it's less innocently deposited, I realise, or when it's a chronic sort of deal. I get that.

But for a quick antidote to acute craniorectal inversion syndrome, I recommend poo cleaning.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home

Lorrie's "Rouse the Hunt" Eggnog

(inspired by

dduane's Mysterious Miss S.,

lferion and Alton Brown)
Difficulty: Easy
Yield: Well over a gallon; call it five quarts.

12      large eggs, separated*
1    lb casters, superfine, or confectioners sugar** (approx 3 3/4 cups)
2    qt whole milk
1    qt heavy cream
1 1/2 c dark rum (e.g. Myers') (half a big bottle/a whole little bottle
1 1/2 c good bourbon whiskey (e.g. Maker's Mark)
much    nutmeg, to be grated on the spot--or you'll get the back of my hand!

Crack each egg into a small bowl. Put the yolk in one medium bowl, and the white in another. This will only seem like too much fuss until you screw up separating one of the eggs, and then you'll thank me. Repeat for the whole dozen eggs.

Now take all those whites, which should be about 1 1/2 c, seal them up in something airtight, and pop it into the refrigerator. We'll get back to them tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, whisk the yolks together until they are of a uniform consistency and have lightened in color. Now slowly add the sugar while continuing to whisk, always aiming to incorporate old sugar as new sugar is added. By the time you're through, it'll be quite thick in there, like a thick batter or thin dough. That's okay, you're about to thin it right back up.

Begin adding the milk. As you incorporate it into the sugary yolks, it will thin back up considerably (hooray). At some point...you're gonna need a bigger ~~boat~~ bowl, so transfer it then. Once you're done adding the milk, go for the cream.

Now, before you grab that booze, a sidebar:

This is just about the only pothole in the crafting of eggnog: when a big blob of alcohol hits an innocent strand of protein, the protein grabs onto all of its buddies, and they go into a big clumpy huddle. Those proteins call their friends in, and they call their friends, and so on, and so on. You want this to happen slowly, gradually, throughout the pitcher because that'll thicken the whole thing, rather like a custard. Do it wrong and the protein forms scared, clumpy lumps, which really isn't what you wanted. Separating the eggs was the first step in keeping this wolf at bay, as those whites were nearly all protein, but here's the other:

Pour the booze into the egg mixture v-e-r-y s.l..o...w....l.....y. Trickle it. Use a measuring cup if that'll help, and stir your proto-nog all the while.

Apply all of this to a pitcher, and throw the pitcher in the chill chest for not less than overnight. Well, okay, you can have a small taste...but I suggest a shotglass.

The next morning, you may, if you like, whip the egg whites to soft peaks, sprinkle in some more sugar to ensure they'll stay...firm...then whip to stiff peaks and stir into the mix. Whipping the tar out of those whites gets those proteins all coagulated, and will lighten the texture of your eggnog considerably.

It'll stay good in the refrigerator for several days--many, really. Embrace the power of booze!

* - Los federales would like you to know that so much as looking crosswise at a raw egg means certain death from salmonella. This is generally only a problem for people with weakened immune systems: very young children, old people, and otherwise immuno-compromised. If that's your deal, find one of the cooked recipes. However, even if it isn't, this would be a great time to splurge on those highfalutin' eggs.

** - Casters sugar may be hard to find at the local megamart; I specifically went to the local snooty grocery looking for it. Most stores I've been to in California have a "superfine" that's finer than granulated but not as fine as confectioners (or as casters), but should do fine here. Confectioners is ground quite well enough, but has cellulose in it as an anti-caking agent, which can throw off the taste and inhibit some of the coagulation you're aiming for. Why such a fine grind? So it takes less than all year to dissolve in a cold liquid...

-- Lorrie

PS: Note to Self: The two dozen eggshells of your courageous double batch, once run through the disposal, turn your kitchen sink's drainpipe into a filter. This is suboptimal. Do not do that again.

Current Mood: creative

[Edit: There was a third this morning. Hmmmm...]

*thump* goes the fault again. Second time in two days, a matched pair of 3.6-3.7's.

"Oh, honey?"

"Yes?"

"Let us make sure we replenish our disaster stores. Tomorrow."

"Don't panic!"

"That's not panicking! That's a perfectly reasonable response to living next to the Hayward Fault!"

Further note to self: Remember how DLP suggested pouring someone a little something out last night? And didn't? Yeah, not so smart an idea, now, was that?

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: calm

You young whippersnappers! In MY day, we didn't have your World Wide Webs! We uploaded with baud! Uphill! Both ways! In a packet storm! We ATE spam and LIKED it!

And when we wanted to know what that damn quake was, WE USED OUR FINGER!

(Highlight of appropriate line added via distinctly non-old-school FONT tag. Tongue completely in cheek to avoid coyote-like lolling.)

lwood@lorien:~$ finger -l quake@quake.geo.berkeley.edu
[quake.geo.berkeley.edu]
Login name: quake                       In real life: EQs? USE finger -l
Directory: /home/dc1/quake              Shell: /bin/csh
Never logged in.
No unread mail
Plan:

                  RAPID EARTHQUAKE LOCATION SERVICE
           U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California.
       U.C. Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, Berkeley, California.
         (members of the Council of the National Seismic System)

NOTE:  Information in this page is updated regularly.  If you are accessing
this page via the Web, you may need to RELOAD the page to get current data.

Below is a list of magnitude 2 or greater earthquakes recorded by the USGS
Northern California Seismic Network and the UCB Berkeley Digital Seismic
Network during the last 3 days.  All times are in UTC (Universal Time),
which is 8 hours ahead of PST and 7 hours ahead of PDT.  This catalog is
valid for Central and Northern California (approximately north of San Luis
Obispo along the coast and 37 degrees N at the Nevada border). 

Magnitudes are reported as local magnitude (Ml) or coda duration magnitude
(Md) for small events.  Depth is in kilometers.  Q is location quality,
where the quality of the location solution is A=E (A=good, E=bad), and '*'
indicates the solution is from an automated system and has not been reviewed
by staff.

Note:  This is PRELIMINARY information.  Earthquakes before 00:00 UT today
which occur > ~50 km outside the boundaries of the network will not be
listed unless reviewed by seismologists.

Catalogs for other regions of the country can be obtained by using 
`finger quake@computer'  for the following computers:
  geophys.washington.edu (Washington and Oregon)
  seismo.unr.edu  (Nevada)         scec.gps.caltech.edu (southern California)
  eqinfo.seis.utah.edu (Utah)      fm.gi.alaska.edu (Alaska)  
  slueas.slu.edu (central US)      gldfs.cr.usgs.gov (large world-wide)
  tako.wr.usgs.gov (Hawaii)

WWW access: for these lists, maps, and more go to http://quake.usgs.gov

Updated at Thu Dec 21 17:16:00 GMT 2006 a.k.a. Thu Dec 21 09:16:00 PST 2006

******************************************************************************
                                                    
 DATE-(UTC)-TIME   LAT    LON      DEP   MAG  Q  COMMENTS
yy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss   deg.   deg.    km
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
06/12/18 19:48:04  38.82N 122.79W   0.6 2.7Md A*   3 km NNE of  The Geysers, CA
06/12/19 00:03:07  35.60N 120.75W   5.8 2.3Md B*   6 km NW of  Templeton, CA
06/12/19 04:06:41  36.16N 120.28W  10.9 2.1Md B*   8 km ENE of  Coalinga, CA
06/12/19 06:36:28  40.34N 124.46W  18.9 3.3Ml C*  15 km W of  Petrolia, CA
06/12/19 15:10:10  37.49N 118.19W  12.6 2.5Md B*  23 km NE of  Bishop, CA
06/12/19 15:15:19  37.49N 118.19W  12.1 2.8Md B*  23 km NE of  Bishop, CA
06/12/19 15:18:40  37.49N 118.19W  10.9 3.4Ml B*  23 km NE of  Bishop, CA
06/12/19 15:21:42  37.49N 118.19W   9.2 4.0Ml B*  23 km NE of  Bishop, CA
06/12/19 15:36:09  37.49N 118.19W   5.8 2.7Md B*  23 km NE of  Bishop, CA
06/12/20 00:47:42  38.67N 119.84W   0.0 2.6Md B*   4 km WSW of  Markleeville, CA
06/12/20 02:14:35  38.83N 122.80W   2.8 2.6Md A*   4 km N of  The Geysers, CA
06/12/20 09:48:27  40.61N 124.22W  16.4 2.7Md C*   5 km NE of  Ferndale, CA
06/12/20 13:47:54  40.72N 121.52W  10.4 2.2Md C*  22 km SE of  Burney, CA
06/12/20 20:13:01  38.82N 122.80W   3.6 2.3Md B*   2 km NNE of  The Geysers, CA

06/12/21 03:12:28  37.86N 122.24W   9.0 3.7Ml A*   4 km ESE of  Berkeley, CA

06/12/21 08:55:40  37.86N 122.24W   8.8 2.2Md A*   4 km ESE of  Berkeley, CA
06/12/21 12:09:12  39.86N 123.48W   3.3 2.1Md B*  20 km WNW of  Covelo, CA
06/12/21 13:50:08  38.08N 118.68W   6.8 2.2Md B*  29 km SSW of  Qualeys Camp, NV
06/12/21 14:06:32  36.47N 121.04W   4.4 2.9Md B*  11 km SE of  Pinnacles, CA

You kids these days...no appreciation for a command line interface!

And get offa my lawn!

Less colorfully--yeah, we felt that. More like a bangish THUMP, like a car hitting the building or a cabinet falling, than any real shaking thing. I'm quite gratified that pegging it as a 4.0 got me within a mere factor of three (remember, Richter is a logarithmic scale) of those guys with their fancy-schmancy seismographs. ;)

-- Lorrie ("And we LIKED it!")

Current Mood: geeky
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home

I have an iPod named Omi, who goes about with me. I usually set it on Random, which means that Steely Dan might well be followed by Wagner, with AC-DC or

cadhla as a chaser.

As I strode across the quad en route to the Mad Scientists' Home, Omi offered up something lovely, and bouncy, and Celto-Rocky. There were bagpipes, and an electric guitar, and, eventually, a fiddle.

"Is it Annwn? Except for the electric guitar, it might be Battlefield Band. But with that fiddle! It must be Leigh Ann--no, wait, that could actually add up to Heather Alexander, particularly in the incarnation of Uffington Horse, but that album doesn't have any instrumentals...."

Eventually, I pulled Omi from my breast pocket and looked at his screen.

All those guesses were wrong!

It was Tornaod, off of Orìn, which had been a gift to me from the inestimable

dr_beowulf, as his sister Beth co-wrote and co-sings one of their snappy "Progressive Breton" pieces, but not this one.

Which means:

If you liked (okay, I admit it, I probably mean "have heard of") any of the above, you may well any others. Specifically, by the way, anything Annwn ever recorded for commercial sale is available via the referenced link, so you can bulk up your mp3 collection, not only for free, but completely for legal.

Enjoy!

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: "Apex Nights", Beth Patterson, Caught in the Act

doc_beowulf? anthony_arndt? lilmissnever? Any translations on the probably-Russian there?

[Edited to Add:]

dr_beowulf has come through with the goods. Roughly translated, "Friendship is friendship, but business is business." See his comment for, well, commentary.

Courtesty of

utu_eros with

e_falki as an intermediary, ~~I bring you yet another modern interpretation of the Oskerei~~ Russian commentary on the commercialisation of Christmas...

( Don't click here if easily offended by Santa-targeted violence... )

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: crazy
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home

http://space.com/news/061204_nasa_moon.html

NASA Unveils Plan to Return to the Moon.
( Article Text Behind Cut )

Great! Now all we need is for ~~Bell Labs~~ somebody to get off their arses and start developing that High Optional Logical Multi-Evaluating Supervisor. We've only got until 2024 to get three of those buggers made, and I figure 2075 for the fourth one to wake up.

It is not, after all, like the "Crazy Years" are not still upon us...

-- Lorrie

^* - Through Adversity to the Stars". Those of you who didn't already know that and yet call yourselves fannish of a science fictional persuasion, deduct three points from your overall score on the "hard science fiction" portion of the May exam. Sheesh.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

Uh.

Y'all heathen guys?

I found a thing...

THE THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL SAGA CONFERENCE

Durham and York, 6th-12th August, 2006

Major Theme: The Fantastic in Old Norse / Icelandic
Literature

( More details here, including links. )
I'm just starting to go through these, but I think my favorite so far is: "How Elvish Were The Álfar?"

( This is probably because it has a killer paragraph like this one. )Am I going to agree with everything in here? Of course not. But passionate inquiry and discussion of ideas are what keeps heathenry--or any faith!--strong, vibrant, and alive. Some stability is necessary, of course, but not stagnation.

I seek equilibrium...and it's necessarily a dynamic state; dancing on a spearpoint.

Oh, and one more title to tease people:

Spirits Through Respiratory Passages Yes. Exactly what it sounds like.

*swoon*

Now--back to work; that paper won't write itself...

-- Lorrie

Current Location: home

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/20/BAGEHMGMN618.DTL&type=printable

The exercise for five seventh-grade ~~biology~~ life sciences class: look at your cells under a microscope.

Originally, this was to be done by taking a swab from the inside of your cheek. The real biology teacher being out on maternity leave, the substitute made two changes--one I approve of, the other being profoundly stupid:

The sub changed the swab to a blood draw. I actually like that: you get more cells from, oh, you, not "you and some wandering microbes and, uh, there goes some unswallowed lunch". Plus, really, I find flipping out over blood to be one of those Victorian notions we could stand to get over. Sane biohazard precautions, yes. Fainting, not so much. Speaking of "sane biohazard precautions", though:

OMGWTFBBQ! The teacher permitted the students to share lancets!

The sub, of course, is fired like bricks. As many as thirty of the kidlets are off for Hep B/C and HIV testing.

Not only do you have all that cross-contamination, but lancets aren't exactly intended for multiple stickpokes on even one person, so person two (ogods I HOPE it wasn't more than that; the article is unclear) is in for a rather bigger ow than person one, and similar diminishing returns.

It could have been an educational exercise in reasonable biohazard precautions--not a bad habit to start, and start early. But no, it had to be a total ballsup instead, with predictable parental screeching, I'm sure, to follow.

*facepalm*

On the gripping hand, though, I wonder if any of those lab partners were using it as an excuse to reeeeeally be best friends forever by pressing their stuck fingers together and doing some good old, OLD-fashioned blood oathing in the back of the room. That, I could conceivably approve of--you know, when not ranting about biohazardous evil. 8-P

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

I work at a Mad Scientists' Home. ( If you don't want to hear about weird things done to fuzzy critters, including genetic modifications, do not click here. )

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: SIMH: Theme to "Pinky and the Brain"

Tomorrow's Oracular Seið ritual will have an anthropology student from a local college in attendance.

She will only be allowed to use questions and answers from querents who have specifically permitted use of their question and answer, and we will be announcing her presence before we start. She didn't give us enough warning to make note of it beforehand even to our own people, grumble grumble nyar grar. My other stipulation, as usual, is wanting a copy of the paper when it's done.

The student will also be attending another ritual this week that will have none of the same people in it, so that will be a healthy contrast.

Passing anthropologists make me feel like I've reached the Big Time as a professional weirdo.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

One of the Mad Scientists had a presentation for we Administrative wonks over lunch, on the lifecycle of HIV and what we're doing about that. I was the Designated IT Guy, so I sat in the front row, cowl pulled up.

"Are you supposed to be Death?" asked The Head Honcho.

I turned and smiled. "No, Doctor M, I'm a Jedi."

"Oh! You had me worried for a minute there!" After all, our Mad Science revolves around three big killers...appearing as Death would have been in supremely poor taste.

Later, gliding down the hall with overrobe closed and hood pulled up:

"What are you supposed to be, Gandalf?"

"Nope, I'm a Jedi! See?" I opened my robe, revealing the underlayers that made everything much more clear.

I glided away, and only I could hear the baritone chuckle...a Word from Our Sponsor, living at the intersection of Death and Gandalf for mumblemumble years.

This earned a sotto voce, loving, respectful, "Oh, shut up."

Then I grinned, and kept on toward the Mad Scientist Home's Hallowe'en Party, where I demonstrated that, really, the fog effects of dry ice are much improved if the water's hot, and then bowed out of the costume competition per se--but not before a Picture was Taken, which I will probably post later for your dartboard-mounting pleasure. ;)

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home

Depending on how you reckon things, I am 100000, 40, 32, and 20 years old today^*, all at the same time.

Owing to lack of any real planning, celebration will be:

ME! Having SUSHI for LUNCH! Woohoo! A feast of raw fleshy fishy bits, and lo, green tea ice cream.

And! A quiet dinner at the home of The Notorious DLP, in the company of whomever was invited and could show up on essentially no notice. But they will get salmon, aspearagus, and, if I've anything at all to say about it, ice cream cake. 8-)

My only sadness is that

countgeiger is away in Vegas for a class this week. Last year, I was away in Jotunheim for the occasion, off gaining crazy wisdom in strange places like a good little Oðinnsgyðja--and what I got instead of cake was worth it, I ween. Next year, I want cake and my husband and the kin of my heart while fresh from another trip to Jotunheim--and I aims to get 'em.

Mad props, and my love, to all y'all.

-- Lorrie, now a happy power of two.

^* - That's 100000₂, 40₈, 32₁₀, or 20₁₆ years old, respectively, apply appropriate base as needed.

Current Mood: silly
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

Friends and neighbors, I'm an animist. Damn near anything with an individual identity has got some spirit to it, and that which is loved, can love in return, and occasionally perform when really it just ain't got no logical reason to--and I like to think that's love.

Herewith, the Tale of the Taurus That Could, and the Death of Its Transmission.

( Short form: I'm okay, the car not so much. )

A rebuilt transmission will run $2000, and that'll take a goodly amount of juggling to achieve, but we'll do it--if for no other reason than that loyalty on a level roughly equivalent to the original marathon run really ought to be rewarded.

The little Taurus That Could loves me lots and now, big strong mean tough silly me, I am crying for it, at work and everything.

Good car. Mommy and Daddy fix.

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

Courtesy of

cadhla, who recently wielded it against an annoying BART passenger:

This hooks right into Stuff We're Doing Here at the Mad Scientists' Home--what if the Black Death weren't the Bubonic Plague, as has been assumed, but a hemorrhagic fever, similar to Ebola? Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer asks that question and makes a good argument for it, according to

cadhla.

Now if I only were one of the virology/immunology boys up on the fifth floor, I could expense this, wave it around, and get grants. 8-)

-- Lorrie

Current Mood: curious
Current Location: Work: The Mad Scientists' Home
Current Music: IT Department chatter

So, there you are, on your IM client, and a friend sends you a link out of the blue, no hello or anything, just an innocuous link like this:

http:// www . geocities . com / input_on_new_pics_plz

Don't ever go to links that people send you out of the blue without some obvious tip-off: have you been talking already? Is it obviously going to a site in which you have a shared obscure interest?

No?

Then DON'T GO!

If you do, in this case, you get a nice looking page that asks for your Yahoo name and password, which will, if you have that gullible moment, then proceed to collect more usernames and passwords, and it will then have access to all your Yahoogroups--and Yahoo mail, if you use that, and so on.

If this happens to you, no software has been installed on your machine: this is all being done remotely. To lock the asshats back out change your Yahoo password and they will no longer have access. Count yourself lucky, as other spim-trojans do change passwords, as others have found to their peril.

This has been a Public Service Announcement; more details ( behind this cut. )This is a clever combination of social engineering (getting people to do what they're already inclined to) and phishing (using a faked legitimate-looking page to get real information)--clever because it's coming along an unexpected vector.

Unexpected...until you're bitten by one. I've known several who were (by this or another), two of whom have extensive experience in IT and therefore Should Have Known Better.

Don't let this happen to you!

-- Lorrie

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lwood

February 2011

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Entries tagged with random observation

As Seen on BART

Today's Post from Freya Aswynn

From Icelandic Review: Unexpected Odin and Lamb Soup

Reasons You Know You're Me, #786:

On Knowing Something Was Done

Hash ennywun sheen my eggnog? (hic)

Note to Self

Earthquake Geeking the Old-School Way

En Route to Work: Name That Band

Look! It's Father Winter!

Per Aspera, Ad Astra!*

(no subject)

THE THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL SAGA CONFERENCE

Durham and York, 6th-12th August, 2006

Major Theme: The Fantastic in Old Norse / Icelandic
Literature

Swapping Needles in Middle School

Notes from the Mad Scientists' Home

Well, We Must Be Authentic...

More Hallway Commentary on Jedi Robes

It's My Birthday! Hooray!

The Tale of the Little Taurus That Could--and Did.

Courtesy of cadhla...

SPIM, Phishing, and You!

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February 2011

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Entries tagged with random observation

THE THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL SAGA CONFERENCE

Durham and York, 6th-12th August, 2006

Major Theme: The Fantastic in Old Norse / Icelandic Literature

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

Major Theme: The Fantastic in Old Norse / Icelandic
Literature