… although LS managed to lure another professional into working for them … let me guess, 6 months notice period and a fairly good wage? … there is hope for deliverance. One of my former colleagues and friends, Faik, has joined free humankind again.
Congratulations, Faik and good luck in your future job!!! 😉
// Oliver
PS: As you see, there is hope for the souls trapped in “Arachn(n)e‘s web”.
Although I read through the book already a few weeks ago, some of the theses of Dawkins still keep me thinking. Despite being very witty and despite the good metaphors used in his book, the purpose is clear – consciousness-raising, as Dawkins puts it. While the consciousness-raising example he gives – history vs. herstory – is limited to the English language, other examples are not.
Admittedly I’ve been an atheist since I can think and I never made a fuss out of it. In fact I even had discussions (already years back in school, for example) with pastors and religious fellow students, mormons, Jehovas witnesses, and muslims. I also had the chance to be part of an “experimental school subject” in the German federal state of Brandenburg called “Lebensgestaltung, Ethik, Religion” (in short “LER”, for “Organization of life, ethics, religion”). This subject wasn’t tied to one particular religion as is normal in the oh-so-christian occident, instead we had the chance to learn and teach each other the views of different religions and much more. This subject was the favorite of many fellow students for a simple reason – no grades. While this is an advantage for a subject that deals with such sensitive(?) topics and where teacher and student not necessarily share their point of view, I liked more the debating in this subject. In fact you could well have called it “philosophy”. The subject, by the way, was meant to become a common substitute for “religious instruction”, which (of course) should rather be called “Christian instruction” in old Europe 😉
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She and a partner, Alexander Tereshkin, have published the source to BluePill, or rather a rewrite called New BluePill (NBP), since Rutkowska’s previous employer owns the rights to the original one:
http://www.bluepillproject.org
The source is a little flawed, at least the version I got. It requires three minor corrections, but I am not sure whether this is an intentional hurdle for script-kiddies or a difference between the in-lab source and the one being published. Anyway, it’s not hard at all to figure it out. The source won’t compile with the WNET DDK, though – and presumably won’t compile with even older DDKs either. This means you have to get the Vista WDK or the beta of the 2008 Server WDK. The problem for the WNET DDK seem to be the assembly parts in the source, so this may be possible to be fixed, however, I didn’t try. The executable is around 50 kiB big. Obviously compiles only for AMD64 😉
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… I’ve been a Debian fan for a while and after managing different machines as well as the server on which this blog runs, it’s only natural that I installed Debian on my primary machine now as secondary operating system. Why secondary? Well, it would be foolish to develop Windows software on Linux, wouldn’t it?
Anyway, the reason I write this here is another one, I want to provide the solution to the problem of using the WLAN card built into my machine. It was a problem at first, especially since the recipies vary, but now that I got the bigger picture, I wanted to share my findings.
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Wann immer ich mein System neu installiere, brauche ich auch ein paar sinnvolle Standardeinstellungen. Einige Tools liegen bei mir immer im Pfad, so daß sich folgendes REG-Skript bewährt hat:
REGEDIT4 ; FTChange zum Ändern der Dateizeiten [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Zeitstempel ändern\command] @="FTchange \"%L\"" ; CMDasSYS um eine Eingabeaufforderung als SYSTEM zu bekommen [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\CMDasSYS\command] @="CMDasSYS.exe" ; Aktuellen Ordner in ISO-Datei schreiben [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\mkisofs\Command] @="mkisofs.cmd \"%L\"" ; Eingabeaufforderung im aktuellen Verzeichnis [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\cmd] @="Eingabeaufforderung" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\cmd\command] @="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\"" ; Eingabeaufforderung im aktuellen Wurzelverzeichnis [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Drive\shell\cmd] @="Eingabeaufforderung" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Drive\shell\cmd\command] @="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\"" ; Konsolenfenster mit 80x50 Zeichen, QuickEdit und Einfügen ; (dazu ein paar größere Puffer) [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console] "HistoryBufferSize"=dword:00000032 "InsertMode"=dword:00000001 "NumberOfHistoryBuffers"=dword:00000004 "QuickEdit"=dword:00000001 "ScreenBufferSize"=dword:10000050 "WindowSize"=dword:00320050 [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Console] "HistoryBufferSize"=dword:00000032 "InsertMode"=dword:00000001 "NumberOfHistoryBuffers"=dword:00000004 "QuickEdit"=dword:00000001 "ScreenBufferSize"=dword:10000050 "WindowSize"=dword:00320050
Anbei nochmal der ganze Schmarrn als .REG-Skript inklusive der mkisofs.cmd. Wer mkisofs braucht, kann es auf verschiedenen Webseiten bekommen – inklusive der passenden Cygwin-DLL.
// Oliver
Does this sound familiar to anyone who had history lessons in school?
(b) “Catastrophic Emergency” means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;
Prophecy or promise?
// Oliver
Heise meldet: unter dem Titel “GDatas Antivirenlösungen für Unternehmen ohne Kaspersky-Scanner” … “[…] Stattdessen setzen die Produkte für Unternehmen in den aktuellen Versionen auf die F-Prot-Engine von Frisk […]”.
Ich wußte es ja schon ein Weilchen, aber da es jetzt offiziell ist 😉
// Oliver
… it’s System Administrator Appreciation Day again. How about thanking your sysadmins today with a cake, or a beer, or some really geeky presents? Well, you get the idea.
Don’t miss it – an administrator that feels neglected may quickly become a BAFH/BOFH, so be careful. In the long run it may be better for the peace of your soul to show your appreciation today 
// Oliver
One of my favorite movie characters, Ambrose Bierce (played by Michael Parks) in “The Hangman’s Daughter” about the bible:
Ambrose Bierce: My singular critique of the good book … is, that its covers are too far apart.
Mary Newlie: Excuse me?
Ambrose Bierce: I am of the opinion that the, uh, bible … is perhaps, the greatest assemblage of lies and untruths ever gathered together, with the possible exception of the Congressional record.
Mary Newlie: Are you an atheist, sir?
Ambrose Bierce: Yes, ma’am. Thanks to your god, I am an atheist.
Mary Newlie: Then there is no hope for your soul on the final day. When Gabriel blows his horn, your ears will be deaf … to the resounding tone of its glory, Mr. Bierce.
Ambrose Bierce: Oh, no – on the contrary, when Gabriel blows his … horn, I shall be playing the tuba.
Corrine knows it, LS – of course – knows it and I’ve been told by a mail through my webinterface a few days ago. Ann-Christine Åkerlund, CEO of LS, is leaving the company and retiring in the beautiful homeland of Swiss cheese where no representative from Skatteverket is going to do any harm to “her” money … not that I am still angry that LS didn’t pay their debts (my salary during the termination period, that is) under “her reign”. No really, it’s “fine” if you don’t know your status and try to contact them – at last by the help of lawyers – and no one reacts, even after the termination period as set in the employment agreement. Also no problem whatsoever that the uncertainty about my status during that time kept me from assuming other job perspectives, but in that case I should be rather happy that I found a company that can be considered perfect for “LS-wars veterans” and I am very happy here!
By the way, the press release says:
Ms. Åkerlund will be passing on the torch to a member of the company’s senior management team.
… “senior” meaning less than one year (actually more like less than six months) in the company, in case some of you haven’t followed the exciting and frequent changes on the LS management page. But for LS this is of course a long time – believe me, I know! – so “senior” is the right choice of words. However, it makes me wondering what some of the other employees, such as the developers, who work there for 1.5 years (a little longer, that is) already can call themselves. Their job-title must be something like “über-senior long-time developer” or similar, oh wait, no … rather “soon-ex-über-senior long-time developer”, as I heard from a friend who finally managed to free himself from the tentacles of “the firm” by resigning 😆
At least this long-term experience in the company makes it likely that this handover will go on “without a hitch” and that the quality of service and products will continue in the same direction it developed in recent months and years.
// Oliver
PS: Should I have used some nautic metaphor such as “the … leaving the … ship”?
Hilarious Monty Python sketch!
PS: The German is not perfect, but perfectly understandable and the accent of Cleese is ->
… natürlich nur geräuschmäßig … andere Ambitionen sind nicht vegleichbar
Der “aktuellste” Harry-Potter-Band wurde also abfotografiert?! Na und? Wer sich den ganzen Rummel um diese nicht gerade besonders geschriebenen Bücher anguckt, kann nur staunen. Nunja, Teenager verlieben sich ja auch reihenweise in die Boy/Girl-Band ihrer Wahl, also von daher vielleicht doch nicht so erstaunlich – erstaunlich ist eigentlich nur mit welch einer offenen Kommerzialisierung man es in Sachen “Harry Potter” zu tun hat. Wenn es das ist, was wir gegen die Feinde “unserer Zivilisation” verteidigen müssen, sollten wir uns eventuell Gedanken machen was wir da verteidigen.
Die Krönung ist aber im Moment, daß Canon (siehe oben verlinkter Artikel) offenbar allen Ernstes dabei helfen will anhand einer Seriennummer der Kamere, welche zum Abfotografieren benutzt wurde, den “Schuldigen” herauszufinden. Sollte das gelingen, so wäre es eine neue Dimension des Ausspionierens “des Konsumviehs”. Ob sich da nicht unser Herr Schäuble schon Gedanken macht wofür man das noch so verwenden und ob man die Gerätehersteller zur Kooperation zwingen kann??? 🙄
// Oliver
PS: Ich habe den Band “Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch(?)” auf Polnisch und Russisch, daher weiß ich zumindest, daß es nicht sonderlich gut geschrieben ist. Mehr Bände habe ich nicht.
As reported earlier, LS claimed here that the “free AAW” was just a “preview”. Nice PR gag, only a few questions left, such as why the users had to find out about this easter-egg (no announcements until after it was found) and why it needed “fixing” if it was a “preview”? And why was the “preview” period so short? Only few users had the chance to find out about it! I was one of them and since the chance for a “preview” is gone now for others, I can only help you by publishing the videos I captured when trying the “preview” myself.
Feel free to download the footage: http://ljossalfheimr.assarbad.net
Also feel free to spread the videos. I claim no copyright, this is released into the PUBLIC DOMAIN!
// Oliver
PS: Both videos show essentially the same, but the second is a bit more professional and contains explicit proof to show this is not a fake!
Removed the download link.
Schon GEZahlt? Die GEZ will mal wieder zuschlagen. Nicht, daß die ÖR-Sender deswegen ihr Programm auch ins Internet verlegen würden, nein, die schlecht implementierten, weitgehend statischen, Webseiten der ÖR-Sender müssen genügen – Live-Streams gibt es noch bei keinem der Sender für einen angemessenen Zeitraum (>12h) am Tag. Bei den meisten sind es durchschnittlich sogar unter 1-2h. Für diese bescheidene Leistung kann man sich dennoch fürstlich entlohnen lassen, wie uns die GEZ als “Erfüllungsgehilfin” der ÖR-Sender beweist. Es gibt da ja noch andere staatliche Monopole, bei denen man auch zum Zahlen gezwungen werden kann, selbst wenn keine Leistung erbracht wird (Stichwort: Schornsteinfeger).
Mir fällt dazu ein Wort ein: Schmarotzer!
// Oliver
Am Wochenende ist Innenminister Schäuble zurückgerudert und meinte, daß er der letzte sei der gezielte Tötungen von Verdächtigen wolle. Um es also nochmal zusammenzufassen, fasse ich es mal in andere Worte:
Ich fordere die Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe, allerdings muß die auch auf Verdacht hin gelten dürfen und ohne lästige Gerichtsbeschlüsse möglich sein. Wenn nötig müssen wir eben das Grundgesetz ändern um diese Wiedereinführung verfassungsgemäß zu gestalten. […] Ich bin der letzte, der die Todesstrafe wöllte, aber drüber diskutieren muß man doch können!
Das wurde also nur mal so angeschnitten. Will ja keiner wirklich. Bei der Mauteinführung mußte man auch mal über die Weiterverwendung der Daten diskutieren können. Wollte ja aber keiner wirklich. 😆
// Oliver (nebenberuflich “Hysteriker”)
Dank Youtube, nicht GEZ und ÖR, kann ich jetzt wieder eine meiner Lieblingssendungen zumindest ausschnittsweise angucken. Und einen Podcast haben die von extra 3 auch
// Oliver