Lemur z i l l a Zone News

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

what's hot what's not

The recent opinion on how some folks attend 'events' kicked off by Mitch Ratcliffe presented 'Disclosure' or lack therof as a serious ethical breach picked up by Dave Winer and got Doc Searls to post Blog Culpa.

The subsequent posting and conversations on this topic underscores a couple of points. The pace of information and technology has accelerated to the point that what time we think we have must be used efficiently, and perpetuates the 'quote/soundbyte' mentality which is the most destructive thing that has happened to humans since the first commercial advertisement was created.

Reading and Thinking are activities that have been scorned, downsized, marginalized and is not in the best interest of commercial entities or folks looking for love in all the wrong places. Blogs are the worst offenders and the best hope in this area. Any damn fool can post a link. Very few folks can post opinions that stop you clicking and start you thinking.

The online world of blogging has entirely too much flexibility and offers entirely too much freedom for some folks who are not happy with the sound byte world that typifies most blog posting that these same folks have a large hand in creating and perpetuating, and last but not least, the moral posturing about ethics and disclosure drills home the point that Mitch Ratcliffe is not getting enough Disclosure.

If the 'disclosure' of whether or not I wear boxers or briefs is central to my credibility online or off, then there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. However in the interest of Disclosure and making Mitch more comfortable online I offer this:

DISCLOSURE:
I wear briefs as I have a spermatocele [1] , and the pressure on my scrotum is relieved through their use. At some point soon it will require surgical intervention, and in the interest of 'disclosure' I will keep you apprised of events as they unfold. It was not bought or paid for by any commecial entity, nor prior to this posting has anybody outside of my immediate family and health care provider been privy to this information, which in most cases would not be a subject that would be aired in public, but in the interest of 'Disclosure' compells me to make a clean breast of things. I have not or do not currently let it's presence interfere with my thinking or writing as when I sit down in front of the keyboard it causes me no discomfort to distract me from either thinking or writing.

[1] A spermatocele is a benign cystic accumulation of sperm often found in the head of the epididymis that usually presents as a smooth, firm, well-circumcised mass of the scrotum.

Spermatocele
read here - go there
Source: emedicine.com

To paraphrase a current wireless commercial. Are You Happy Now?

The latest reason that Microsoft is the last company on the planet to manage Digital Identities.

An Unchecked Buffer in Outlook Express S/MIME Parsing May Permit System Compromise

To permit Outlook Express to verify the authenticity of mail messages, Outlook Express supports digital signing of messages by using Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME). The code that generates a warning message when a particular error condition occurs contains a buffer overrun vulnerability. That error condition is associated with digital signatures.

If an attacker creates a digitally signed e-mail message, edits it to introduce specific data, and then sends it to another user, the attacker may cause one of two effects to occur when the recipient opens or previews the e-mail message:

In the less serious case, the attacker may cause the mail client to stop responding. If this problem occurs, the recipient can restart the mail client, and then delete the offending mail to resume ordinary operation.

In the more serious case, the attacker may cause the mail client to run code of the attacker's choice on the user's computer. Such code can take any action that the attacker wants, limited only by the permissions of the recipient on the computer.

Q328676: Security Update (Outlook Express 6)
read here - go there
Source: Microsoft

This could be considered a public service if you wish. But is is really about my clients. This way I can ensure that my clients who are still using Windows are up to date.

It's Time to Stop the Music

I want you to stop buying Commercial Music and going to Movies for six months.
Because if You do not cut off their money they will cut off your Internet access. They have already killed Internet Radio.This is not about the short term pain of your favorite musician, they have already been screwed so royally that it is amazing that you can even recognize them.

It's Time to Stop the Music
read here - go there
Source: the head lemur

Shelley Powers
Some folks can work with technology, some folks can write, very few can do both. Shelley does.

p i x e l v i e w - Shelley Powers
read here - go there