munky.org|v3.0

Only need a thousand more of these!

According to CSO Online, yet another Facebook spammer has been nail to the wall with outlandish fines for spamming. This time, Adam Guerbuez, of Montreal, was order to pay $1 billion CDN to Facebook for his spamming campaign.

Mr. Guerbuez set up a phishing site, stealing login information, then using a botnet to send out over 4 million spam messages. Man would I like to get my hands on that punk.

Obviously, he’s not on Forbes billion list, so don’t expect him to pony up. In fact, he’s refusing to pay a penny, and has declared bankruptcy. He’s trying to get a book deal out of the whole thing. Hah! If he did, he’d never see a penny of it. Oh well.

As I said, he isn’t the first that has been nailed. Last year another company prevailed against spammer Sanford Wallace, awarding more than $700 million US. Holy smokes.

Will all of this help us, the average joe, bombarded by spam daily? Maybe. According to Facebook’s CSO, Joe Sullivan, he has “seen discussions in underground forums where spammers say things like, ‘I don’t want a $100 million judgment hanging over me.’”

Honestly, I don’t know about you, but I would rather see these scum bags go to jail. I don’t see the humor in being one of the (insert cruel words here) who ensure that our daily inboxes are clutter with useless junk every day. It’s like the internet version of the shady street guy selling watches out of his jacket. Look at the fake or stolen inventory, and never realize you’ve already been pick-pocketed.

Maybe one day we will find a way to rid the word of spam. Until then, hopefully these billion dollar awards will help to keep some of these guys in check.

My 85 AE-86. Sold in 2003 - I miss her dearly

Few cars have ever captured my heart as the original Hachi Roku did. For the clueless, I’m referring to the AE-86 Toyota Corolla GTS, a RWD couple/hatchback from the mid-80′s. A major hit with the drift cult car, ranked around the 240sx/sylvia as one of the best drifters of all time. Lightweight + solid chassis + LSD + 4AGE motor + RWD = a smile you can’t remove for a week.

I owned one for a short time many moons ago. It wasn’t in the greatest condition, but I was planning on getting it nice again and maybe running it in some SCCA races. Unfortunately, parenthood came about and the car was sold as a parts donor. Such a waste.

For many years now, Toyota has moved away from fun, sporty cars, instead going after that “other” part of the market (i.e. what i became). It’s a shame that since the Supra met manufacturer doom, the sportiest ride Toyota has produced may be a tie between the Corolla XRS, Matrix XRS, and Camry SE’s. I take that back, the king may have to be the new Tundra with a 5.7L v8 with the optional TRD Supercharger. The ONLY Toyota in the flock to do sub 5 second 0-60′s (4.4 seconds) and a 13.0 flat 1/4 time. Since when did the trucks become the performance leaders?

An AE-86 replacement considered from the early 2000's

Well, Toyota has been changing their game. First the ISF – I know it’s a Lexus – has shown that the company can mix luxury and performance. Obviously, the LFA supercar is another sign that Toyota wants speed. This car, which will cost more than $350,000, is a beast. But unfortunately, it is far beyond the reach of most buyers.

The current FT-86 Concept. Let's hope Toyota/Subaru builds it

But Toyota does have something for us, something so sweet and sultry my mouth is watering right now thinking about it. Currently dubbed the FT-86, it is a RWD coupe being designed and built in partnership with Subaru (read more and see more at jalopnik.com). Power is expected to be in the 200-250 HP range (definitely above the AE-86′s output). The current show car interior is a bit, unusual, but will probably settle down for final production.

The only sin I see Toyota making is that they are considering calling it a Celica. A celica has never, and should never, be considered this type of car. Naming it the FT-86 means these guys know the roots after it, so give it its proper name: the Corolla GTS. The hachi roku reigns.

A mug like this is screaming to Toyota to build it

Rear 3/4 shot of the FT-86 concept.

Most of us have heard of the supposed alien crash site at Roswell, New Mexico. It lives at the core at the UFO conspiracy theorist, and the government documents later released may be the most scrutinized government documents ever in existence. Books have been written. Movies filmed, TV shows produced.

But maybe there is yet another government conspiracy that little have ever even considered. UTO’s. Unidentified Talking Objects. Namely, actors. For years, we have seen TV advertisements make the claim “Real people, not actors.” Interesting, but I thought actors were real people. Then all of a sudden, it appears they mockingly have blown their cover, knowing that the truth is so unbelievable that we will take it as a carefully scripted advertisement. I’m referring to “Hulu.com,” where they will rot out our brains then eat em. Yikes! (more…)

Linux got scrappy. Image by lewing@isc.tamu.edu

I’ve never been one of those googly eyed Linux fanatics. My experiences with Linux generally were not great. All of the hardware incompatibility, backwards engineering drivers to work, patch jobs to the kernel. Way too much work for me just to compute. Then Windows emulators back then were crap too, so application access was cut extremely short.

These aren’t those days anymore. After a multiyear haitus from the family of operating systems, I decided to play around with some different Linux installs on an old laptop I have. Supposed to bring it back to life. Hah! I thought. Maybe the joke is on me.

My hardware is an old IBM T-40, 1.4Ghz Pentium M processor, 512MB ram, 14.1 LCD screen, 40 GB hard drive, DVD-ROM. Nothing fancy, but I’m a fan of the robust T-40′s, they just take a beating and keep going. My old work laptop was a T-40, so when I found this one at a yard sale, I had to get it.

At first I loaded Windows XP Professional on it, and it handled it admirably. But after a lot of thought, I wiped the slate clean and decided to try some of the alternative OS’s out there. Specifically, free one’s. I wanted to see if these systems could not only speed up my system, but if they were also user friendly enough for your typical enduser.

My first install was Puppy Linux, an extremely lightweight and portable linux operating system. So lightweight in fact, that it can just run completely off the RAM. My hats off to the developers, it was easy to use, provided many features, and gave this computer a new lease on life.

My next install was Mandriva 2009. Before you read further, I should note that I installed 2009.0, instead of the 2009.1, which should explain away a number of the faults. WHy do I note this? My experience with Mandriva was horrible. I kep having issues with the X server locking up, crashing, failing to restore after going into command prompt mode. I had problems with a number of the extra KDE plugins, and KDE wallet just would not work. Mandriva 2009 is running off of the new KDE 4, and from what I’ve read, 2009.1 has fixed a number of bugs, but it still is buggy. I would definitely wait out for further releases before working with this particular flavor. So sad, given my only positive experience with Linux in the past was Mandrake, an ancestor of Mandriva.

After my debacle with Mandriva, I installed Ubuntu 9.04. I’ve been very impressed. Ubuntu 9.04 has been maybe the most user-friendly version of Linux I have tried. It reminds me of a lot of the positives from Windows, making my transition to Linux easier. Instead of having to log in as a root account with a separate password, it prompts for your password in order to make root level system changes. It boots quick, runs solid. My only quip is it is not as lightweight as something like PuppyLinux, and it gets bogged down running under my normal loads. Regardless, it has been very stable, and has taken a beating so far.

What’s next? Well, I’m planning on giving Kubuntu 9.04 a shot (heard it is a bit lighter than Ubuntu), followed by DreamLinux. Some have made suggestions of different flavors to try, and I may give them a shot.

Regardless, Linux has come a long way since those more painful days. Linux has always been plauded with its ruggedness, and I’m glad to see it has maintained that while becoming more user-friendly. There is still more work to be done, but as long as we have developers who are willing to work only for the greater good, then we should see nothing but great things from the penquin.

So would I recommend Linux now? Yes, to those with at least moderate computer know how, or to someone who has never been exposed to Windows. I’d still recommend it for personal use, since businesses need a level of support that is still absent from OpenSource software.

Well, I finally decided to install Windows XP on my desktop, which is already running Vista. Within thinking, I just set up an extra partition and set it up. That was a lesson.

After WinXP finished and booted, I went into boot.ini and did like any other version of Windows. Yet when it booted, it hung up and failed. Shit, because I have all my data stored under Vista.

I finally got it back into booting into Vista (thanks to Startup Repair on the Vista disk), then realized that boot.ini doesn’t exist anymore for Vista, instead it uses Boot Configuration Data (BCD). Why?! The only way I to manually edit it is through the command prompt, so I had to learn how to do that. Arg, why can’t they just make it easier to use. Just because we are IT professionals doesn’t mean we ALWAYS want to do something the hard way!

I did find some softwares that would do the job, but man! I’m not paying money for something that is supposed to be simple. It’s crazy. I’ll get it done. In case you were wondering, VistaBootPro came highly recommended, and for those not too hardheaded enough to spend $10, looks like it is worth it. Me? I’ll google it till I learn it.

Well, we’ll find out later if I got it fixed. If not, I’ll just scrap XP, install it as a virtual machine, and enjoy the extra 250 gb of space.

Ok, so the tuner is not truly dead. But it is not in a good position. Tokyo Auto Salon showed proof. HKS a no show, Honda a no show, Mitsu a no show, GReddy is bankrupt. The girls? Slim pickings. Sad day for us jap car lovers.

Tuners used to be laughed at. A supposed offshoot of the muscle car guys, little punks who thought they could soup up their 4-bangers and burn V8′s. It’s a billion dollar industry, Mr. pony car gear-head.

Am I a tuner anymore? No, not really. Though there is something very sensual about the smell of burnt rubber, the sound of nitrous being injected into the cylinder. The sweet whine of the supercharger, the hiss of a blow-off valve. Ah, and the distinct sound of VTEC kicking in. I like go-fasters and good-lookers, especially when they are go-fasters.

Even though there is a part of the tuner world that can afford to spend thousands of dollars into a civic just to make it go faster, not all of us were gifted with that kind of money. Those guys bred what drives the core of the tuner world (not rice): ingenuity. Finding all sorts of ways to tweak a little extra power out of that 4-banger or 6 cylinder.

Though I still have friends who are into that life, I’ve pretty much left it behind. Too many close calls with the cops on too many street races. I gambled enough and it was time to get out while the gettin was good. Yet that life is still a part of who I am, the ingenuity, the passion, the fight against the established mindset. Even though some guys will spend $40k in a $16k car to beat a car that cost $33k, I’ve grown up a bit, so I’ll take the $33k car and spend $5k to win

We'll miss you ladies! Come back soon

It is sad to see this industry hurting though. Another blow from this recession. Even for the non-purists who scream at those brats weaving in and out of traffic, their world has positively affected yours. It got enough attention to bring in the manufacturers. Lessons learned from the R&D work of these aftermarket shops eventually find their way into your stock engine, improving power and fuel economy. People fail to realize one of the easiest ways to draw more power of the engine is to make it more efficient, which means you use less fuel for more power. That’s bang for your buck.

Hopefully most of the best players in the tuner world will survive these recession. We’ll know it when those scantily clad models make their return debut at the big time auto shows.

This cell could one day open up new treatments for a variety of conditions

Hallelujah. I was reading that Obama is apparently switching the Bush position by 180 degrees on this one. Thank goodness. That conservative approach just showed how brain dead those conservatives were.

Stem cell research has high hopes among many scientists. Because of its properties of being able to turn into any other kind of cell, it could be a key to saving livings, extending lifespans, curing diseases, etc. Instead of promoting and nourishing this science, the Bush administration strangled it tight, citing ethical reasons.

However, consider this. While this country was imposing super-tight rules regarding such research, other countries, particularly in Europe, opened their doors. So now America is already behind in the race.

As for the ethical concerns, many were squashed a year back when one of the scientists who first discovered these cells also found a way to create them using skin cells. I’m sure there are some limitations, but it has shown that there are multiple ways to derive these cells.

We also call into the mind of where the stem cells primarily come from: embryos. It is a hotly contested debate over when you can officially determine something alive. Personally I believe you can consider it life, however I also believe that abortion is a woman’s choice. For the hardcore religious who claim it is murder, read the section about though shalt not judge, then leave me alone. Yet what can’t be debated is that abortion is legal, and thousands of embryos are being discarded of every year. I would rather those embryos didn’t die for naught.

If 1 life was lost yet even 2 lives were saved, what do you think? If 1 life was lost and a thousand were saved, what would you think?

Bottom line, embryonic stem cell research exists, and it is going to continue to exist. America is not so powerful as to snuff it out because a handful of conservative republicans believe it is unethical. We’ve let a lot of opportunity slip out of our hands because of this Bush folly, and I’m glad to see Obama taking steps to correct it.

America wants to believe it is the best and smartest country in the world, a leader in technology and science and mathematics. However, we have managed to lose our bragging rights over the years because our government has cut funding that promotes the sources. Schools focused away from hands on science and budgets for fairs and other science related fun activities have been slashed. Academic funding has been slashed. Government programs to promote a love for science has been slashed. The majority of our engineering students aren’t even American anymore.

So yes, putting funding back on the table is a small step in the right direction. Let’s see how many more steps this administration has in it.

Who could forget Top Gun?! Awesome movie, back when Tom Cruise was much more respectable (his Scientology crap grew old quick). Well, after getting bored and looking up some stuff on the F-22, I came across this site f22fighter.com. Low and behold, they (fittingly) use Highway to the danger zone as the music for their flash presentation. And of course, I had to search through YouTube. So here we go, in all it’s glory, Highway to the danger zone.

My 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 The Day I Brought It Home

Honestly, I’ve been bored tonight. I wound up at a video site called WonderHowTo. It’s been worth it.

I found a trick that is definitely worth trying for my motorcycle. Anyone who owns one knows how much of a b*tch it is coming up to the so-called “smart” stop lights. The ones where bikers generally have to run the redlight or get into the intersection and let a car get on the line. For those who don’t know, the light will never turn green because that “smart” light doesn’t think you are there.

Well according to this informative video, the sensors in the road (those caulk-tarred lines in the road) sense the change in electromagnet field overhead, and a motorcycle doesn’t make enough of a change to convince the sensor there is a vehicle above.

According to this video, the simpliest thing to do is to tape a couple of strong magnets (this examply used ones capable of picking up 6 lbs) to the undercarriage. I’m not sure if it works or not, but I’ll definitely be trying. I’ve had to run a number of red lights because it never notices I’m there, passing me over like the retarded kid in gym.

To watch the video and more like it, you can find it here.

The last post stirred up some of those feelings that originally set me going again towards aerospace (the Raptor and a prototype hypersonic jet), so I went YouTubing for some videos. Warning, don’t try any of these stunts at home.

To do your part to help preserve not only the F-22 Raptor, but the 95,000 jobs tied to its production, please visit Preserve Raptor Jobs.