From Jim Giles’ “The inside story of the Conficker worm” (New Scientist: 12 June 2009):
Earlier this year, smartphone users in China started to get messages promising a “sexy view” if they clicked on a link. The link led to a download. That download was a spam generator which, once installed, sent identical “sexy [...]
Posted on July 5th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: business, security, tech in changing society | No Comments »
From a Special Operations officer quoted in Tom Ricks’s Inbox (The Washington Post: 5 October 2008):
One of the most interesting operations was the laundry mat [sic]. Having lost many troops and civilians to bombings, the Brits decided they needed to determine who was making the bombs and where they were being manufactured. One bright fellow [...]
Posted on February 12th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: history, law, politics, security | No Comments »
Image by rsgranne via Flickr
Image by rsgranne via Flickr
Image by rsgranne via Flickr
From Dave Alan’s “Interview with Alex Christopher” (Leading Edge Research Group: 1 June 1996):
Legend: DA [Dave Alan, Host] AC: [Alex Christopher] C: [Caller]
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(Note: according to former British Intelligence agent Dr. John Coleman, the London-based Wicca Mason lodges are one-third of the overall global [...]
Posted on December 20th, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: art, history, language & literature, politics, religion, science | No Comments »
From Lauren Davis’ “Delusion or Alien Invasion? Disorders That Make Life Seem Like Scifi” (io9: 27 September 2008):
Capgras Delusion: You believe a loved one has been replaced with an exact duplicate.
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Reduplicative Paramnesia: You believe that a place or location has been moved to another site, or has been duplicated and exists in two places simultaneously.
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Alien [...]
Posted on September 28th, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: science, weird | No Comments »
From Noah Shachtman’s “Chameleon Weapons Defy Detection” (Defense Tech: 27 March 2006):
Last week I talked to Anthony Taylor, managing partner of an outfit which makes weapons which can be hidden in plain sight. You can be looking right at one without realizing what it is.
One type is the exact size and shape of a credit [...]
Posted on July 11th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: cool stuff, security, tech in changing society | Comments Off
From “Fuzzy maths” (The Economist: 11 May 2006):
MATHEMATICALLY confident drivers stuck in the usual jam on highway 101 through Silicon Valley were recently able to pass time contemplating a billboard that read: “{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com.” The number in question, 7427466391, is a sequence that starts at the 101st digit [...]
Posted on June 1st, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: business, cool stuff, technology, weird | Comments Off
From Shelby Foote’s The Civil War: Fort Sumter to Perryville (384):
When [Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard's men] stole out of the intrenchments [at Corinth] after nightfall, they left dummy guns in the embrasures and dummy cannoneers to serve them, fashioned by stuffing ragged uniforms with straw. A single band moved up and down the deserted [...]
Posted on April 23rd, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: history, security | Comments Off
In 1698, Peter the Great worked as a common laborer while in England so that he could learn the art of shipbuilding.
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Posted on May 21st, 2005 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: commonplace book | Comments Off