Need To Know 2003-10-03

archive

"Downloading MP3 music files, something which works best on a high-speed connection, scares many..." - Britons "still scared" of computers, the net, loud sounds, shiny objects, reports BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/technology/3158170.stm ...magic pixie music coming out of nowhere? 'Tis the devil's work, I tell ye! >> HARD NEWS << marcel proust And so, the two clumsiest Godzillas of the Net stumble toward each other, grappling at air, roaring at onlookers, breathing steam and farting writs. VERISIGN and ICANN are now at war. Unless Verisign drops the SiteFinder service, ICANN says, by 2AM tomorrow, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will start assigning far dirtier names for Verisign than hithertofore. Gather the popcorn! Will Verisign blink? And will ICANN finally go after the other egregious sliminess that Verisign is indulging in (latest trick: "next registration rights" - or bribe Verisign to hoard expired domaines for you)? And will anyone notice that the supposedly technically competent Verisign can't even get a simple "reverse turning test" right? As NTK subscriber JEREMY SMITH spotted: take a look at the distorted characters that Verisign throw up when you try to do a Web-based whois on their site. Notice anything? Like they're not *actually* distorted in any way? That they'd be easily amenable to a simple, non-OCR check? What, are they too stingy to buy in and test third-party captcha kit? Is it *all* marketing these days? http://www.icann.org/correspondence/twomey-to-lewis-03oct03.htm - if you get host not found, you'll know it's war http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/index.jhtml - you want the source? you can't handle the source! Quick followup on the GOLDFISH phishing-expedition-that-wasn't of a couple of weeks ago: thanks to all the consumer-security enthusiasts who wrote in to point out, instead of their tentative request for just the "Last nine digits of your Goldfish Card number", they might as well have asked for the whole thing, as the first few digits encode the card type and issuing bank, which would therefore be the same for all Goldfish Visa cards. And commiserations to the couple of sticklers for detail who pointed out that, although the site's front page is not SSL'd, the page it sends your data to is (reassuringly certified, not by Goldfish, but "Donhost Ltd"). Though we can't imagine they're advocating that consumers should either check the source for the <form ACTION=...> tag, or just blithely type their credit card details into any non- https page, on the tacit understanding that they'll be safely encrypted on the other side? http://goldfish.xdbs.co.uk/apply/mgm.php - site still up, reassuringly http://www.google.com/search?q=%22please+email+your+credit+card%22 - or just its last 9 digits, whichever's easier And another update on software patents: apparently the Brit LibDems are as confused as we are as to why their European counterparts voted for software patents. That's not what they were supposed to do *at all*. Oooh-ooh. Somebody's in trouble. To prevent having you wish we'd shut down in protest after all, we're going to give this topic a rest for a few weeks. But if you want to get your letter to your MP in early, FFII has all the details: http://www.ffii.org.uk/council.html - stop the minister from okaying software patents >> ANTI-NEWS << berating the obvious that's not "blood thinning compound" - that's Hickory Barbeque Seasoning!: http://www.ntk.net/2003/10/03/dohcjd.gif ... want beans with that? http://www.ntk.net/2003/10/03/dohfart.gif ... Why indeed?: http://www.ntk.net/2003/10/03/dohrec.gif ... Oz not *that* big: http://www.ntk.net/2003/10/03/dohplanet.gif ... missing billions - Italy invests in enough power to run 60W lightbulb: http://www.ntk.net/2003/10/03/dohmilli.gif ... this week's MASTERS OF WEB DESIGN: http://www.philiprknixon.com/, http://www.davidbrucerecruitment.co.uk/ ... badly rendered scenery fools everyone by claiming it's a "live webcam": http://www.picomirador.com/ ... and time of the month for: http://www.google.com/search?&q=manchester+airport+fight+destinations + http://www.google.com/search?q=private+%22jessica+lunch%22 , "towel of babel", "underling problem", "secretarian violence", "attention to detial", "goose bums"... >> EVENT QUEUE << goto's considered non-harmful Presumably in the hope that they might have some interesting views to contribute (and/or be behind on their webcasting royalties), a mystery benefactor has "set aside" 6 places for NTK readers at the upcoming MUSIC-ALLY COMPULSORY LICENSING SEMINAR (6pm, Thu 2003-10-16, Denton Wilde Sapte, 1 Fleet Place, London EC4M, free but RSVP to events@MusicAlly.com with NTK in the subject line). Speakers include ex-Geffen Records exec JIM GRIFFIN, whose "flat fee" pseudo-P2P position seems to advocate a middle ground between free file-swapping and the media companies' total clampdown, so you might want to ask: How about no download fees at all? That flat enough for you? http://www.MusicAlly.com/cgi-bin/content.cgi?page=musicallyseminar - see also http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33133.html http://brumcon.org/ - tomorrow's top-secret Brum 2600 Brumcon details in full http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=www.linuxexpo.co.uk - next Wed/ Thu's www.linuxexpo.co.uk running on NT4/ Win 98 >> TRACKING << sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering It's not that this ASCII/EDIT is available for the Unixy, Mac-y MacOS X, it's that it took this long: it's a WYSIWIG editor for text diagrams. AE isn't quite the perfect meld of Unix and Mac sensibilities yet: there's no built-in figlet support, it doesn't get L shapes right (they should look like this: | or .-- - and it should probably let you import or pipe '-- | command line text a little more easily. But, you know, anything that cuts down on the old HTML mail. http://www.stud.tu-ilmenau.de/~siha-in/software.html#ae - for you, 10 euro >> MEMEPOOL << contains a source of http://snackspot.org/ throw 3d6 for hobbies: http://www.jofs.net/cv/cv.asp ... SMIRNOFF "lyriquid perfection" ads cruelly ape symptoms of neologistic jargon aphasia: http://www.d.umn.edu/~mmizuko/2230/sym.htm ... however Nyarlathotep still hireable for weddings, bar mitzvahs: http://www.kdl.to/gallery/octopus.jpg ... RIP www.leisuretown.com ... OMFG++ : http://devney.net/~matthew/paste ... geodogging ... quit talking about us: http://www.intel.com/intel/legal/third2.htm ... a bit worrying: http://life.csu.edu.au/discontinued.html ... http://www.yorkshireghosthunters.com/-Ghostly-Orb-Photo-Gallery - the coffeestains of dooooooooooom ... war dating ... well, no surprises here: http://tv.cream.org/top100films/ ... gftd - or rtrd? http://www.gftd.org/ ... where you can at last admit your liking for "Dune": http://www.popmates.co.uk/ ... permission wiki- ing: http://3d17.org ... or has it? http://www.ppsw.rug.nl/cov/ >> GEEK MEDIA << get out less TV>> GREATEST MILITARY CLASHES (8pm, Fri, C5) revisits the "Sabre vs MiG-15" episode of "Battle Stations" shown on C4 this January - MiG much better on paper, as it turns out... Geri Halliwell and David Duchovny guest in the pen-penultimate episode of SEX AND THE CITY (10pm, Fri, C4), the latter hopefully reprising his gay cameo from "The Larry Sanders Show"... and SHELDON SOUTHWORTH claims his "147 Lockdown" remix http://www.diffusiononline.net/ will be the official theme to the SNOOKER (from 6pm, Sat, BBC2) "for the next 2 years"... CHARLOTTE LATIMER argues that Derren Brown, unlike Uri Geller http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b=02003-02-28&l=155#l , "makes no claims to any 'powers' whatsoever", though if he *was* using sleight of hand or something, that'd kind of take the edge off his RUSSIAN ROULETTE "LIVE" (9pm, Sun, C4)... part of an weekend of controversial apparent suicides that also features that euthanasia-promoting band in Florida http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3160180.stm , plus DEATH OF A SCIENTIST: THE DAVID KELLY AFFAIR (8pm, Sun, C4)... anyway, it's all over in time for the brilliantly bonkers Michael Bay "Miami Vice" homage BAD BOYS (10.05pm, Sun, C5)... "the history of video games" is a specialist subject on MASTERMIND (8pm, Mon, BBC2)... Kevin Smith's DOGMA (10pm, Mon, C4) provoked widespread criticism from Catholics, movie fans ... and it's JG Ballard week on BBC4, featuring adaptations of HOME (10pm, Mon, BBC4), THIRTEEN TO CENTAURUS (12.10am, Mon, BBC4) and LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT, in Portugese (10.30pm, Tue, BBC4)... in an ideal world, they'd use a SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (10pm, Wed, C5) subterranean dungeon to probe the MIND OF A MILLIONAIRE (9pm, Tue, BBC2) - or even A VERY BRITISH UFO HOAX (10pm, Tue, C4)... we did get complaints last time we reviewed Jim Carrey split-personality gross-out ME MYSELF AND IRENE http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b=02000-09-22&l=229#l (9pm, Wed, ITV)... and it appears to be a fine line - in titles at least - between New York club murder tragedy PARTY MONSTER (12.15am, Wed, C4) and UK event arranger PARTY MAESTRO (9pm, Wed, BBC2)... FILM>> not as focused as the original, though they've kept the uneasy comedy bits to break up the nicely shot car chases in BAD BOYS II ( http://www.capalert.com/capreports/badboysii.htm : 2.5 hours of murder madness; revealing swimwear; mockery of Jesus and faith; attempted cheapening of Jesus)... a slightly less confrontational portrayal of Cuba and its people comes courtesy of Oliver Stone in his Louis Theroux-style Castro profile COMANDANTE ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Contains archive footage of victims of conflict)... Stephen Fry provides a more palatable portrayal of quirky Englishness in period Waugh adaptation BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Contains drug references and use), at least compared to ill- judged Ewan McGregor/ Renee Zellweger/ David Hyde Pierce anachronism-packed '50s-esque screwball romance DOWN WITH LOVE ( http://www.cndb.com/movie.html?title=Down+With+Love+-+Premiere+%282003%29 : [Petra Nemcova] has a gigantic wedge of fabric cut out of the front of her blouse and no bra)... or you've got your work cut out for you tracking down anywhere showing hotly-unawaited Rob "White" Zombie schlock-horror "tribute" HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES ( http://www.cndb.com/movie.html?title=House+of+1%2C000+Corpses : as a rule people would be making a mistake if they watched this movie expecting to get aroused)... CONFECTIONERY THEORY>> and it's been slightly quieter over at http://www.snackspot.org/ now the kids have gone back to school - quiet, that is, until chocolatereview.co.uk webmaster CHOCCIEMAN got back from the supermarket laden with this year's selection box of Christmas treats. NESTLE KIT KAT KUBES (39p), NESTLE ORANGE AFTER EIGHTS (UKP2.39), MARS WINTER EDITION WHITE MALTESERS (about 45p), and TERRY'S CHOCOLATE ORANGE SEGSATIONS (UKP3.49) are all currently the subject of intense discussion, though the surprise debating topic of the moment remains "CADBURY'S FLAKE DIPPED - Does it really taste any different to Cadbury's Dairy Milk or Cadbury's Twirl?": http://www.snackspot.org/thread.php?story=0309301553sbc ... other recent highlights have included: QUAKER/ WALKER'S SNACK- A-JACK SPUDZ (79p, an improvement on Snack-a-Jacks, still not as nice as crisps); the last - and one of the best? - of Wall's Magnum Sins, VANITY (UKP1.30, TV ad sounds a bit like the theme from "Halo"); plus LUCOZADE CITRUS CLEAR (59p, "Not appropriate for replacing the fluid lost during diarrhoea")... future fun to look out for includes VIRGIN SOUR drinks (59p), WALKERS SENSATIONS NUT CLUSTERS (in Chilli Spice, Cream and Onion, Cool Tomato Salsa), KELLOGG'S SCREAMIN' FRUIT SPURTERS (not to be confused with their current "Screamin' Fruit Squidgers", natch), plus the intriguing new trend of sticking Haribo jelly items inside other products, as in both TESCO'S HARIBO JELLY BEAN COOKIE (98p/ bag of 5) and Austria's yummy sounding NESTLE FRUITY SMARTIES MIT DEM HARIBO GOLDBARENKERN (literally, "Fruity Smarties with the Haribo Gold Bear Core"): http://www.snackspot.org/thread.php?story=0308201242sbc ... >> SMALL PRINT << Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent. Registered at the Post Office as "the law" http://www.exwyzee.com/Services/3Dstill_overview.htm NEED TO KNOW THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK. Archive - http://www.ntk.net/ Unsubscribe or subscribe at http://lists.ntk.net/ NTK now is supported by UNFORTU.NET, and by you: http://www.ntkmart.com/ (K) 2003 Special Projects. Copying is fine, but include URL: http://www.ntk.net/ Full license at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0 Tips, news and gossip to tips@spesh.com All communication is for publication, unless you beg. Remember: Your work email may be monitored if sending sensitive material. Sending >500KB attachments is forbidden by the Geneva Convention. Your country may be at risk if you fail to comply.