Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL Marco.org

“The telephone was an aberration in human development. It was a 70 year or so period where for some reason humans decided it was socially acceptable to ring a loud bell in someone else’s life and they were expected to come running, like dogs. This was the equivalent of thinking it was okay to walk into someone’s living room and start shouting. It was never okay.”

- Rick Webb about this (via toldorknown)

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL Techdirt

As noted, yesterday was officially "World Intellectual Property Day," and it looks like the US Justice Department decided to contribute. It announced the appointment of 15 new assistant US attorneys and 20 FBI special agents, who will focus on intellectual property issues. Funny timing on this one. We had just noted that the Justice Department had moved the very real problem of identify fraud off the priority list of things to work on -- and, just weeks later, the GAO put out its report noting that the supposed "harm" done by intellectual property infringement appears to be based on nothing. So why is the Justice Department beefing up efforts to fight intellectual property issues? It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that some of the top folks at the Justice Department previously worked for the RIAA, MPAA, and the BSA -- three of the groups who were most responsible for pushing out those bogus claims about the "impact" of piracy. Nah... that couldn't possibly be related, could it?

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Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL There, I Fixed It - Epic Kludge Photos

A buddy of mine is staying in my guest room for a few weeks and the neighbor saw him from their kitchen getting dressed. The next day they built this fence which is just wide enough to cover the window. Just mildly passive aggressive.

Submitted by: fry via Submit a Kludge!

Good fences make good neighbors. And bad fences make for hilarious stories. – Ms. Fix-It

Favorite Comment: Fixer kc/cc says, “I’d like the give these people the benefit of the doubt and suggest that they were just looking for a solution in having somewhere to hang their wet beach towels to dry. The placement of this fence, though, tells me that they may be more the type who would head up the HOA committee to ban clotheslines and craft sale lawn art.”

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL The Consumerist

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were to take a KFC Double Down -- the bacon sandwich that uses two pieces of fried chicken as the "bread" -- and you were to sandwich it in between two halves of a Krispy Kreme donut? Of course you haven't. Luckily, someone has.

Over at TopCultured.com, they provide step-by-step instructions -- and, not for the faint of heart -- pictures of how to make one yourself.

The verdict?

What you end up with is over 900 calories of tongue flipping delight. This thing will not only supply you with enough calories, sodium, sugar and fat for a good part of your day it will keep you up and running for a bit. The inevitable afternoon crash was not the best though…as there is now a brick in the belly. I do highly recommend you give this a shot though. I know it sounds far fetched but it’s actually quite delicious.

We'll take your word for it.

Will They Build It? KFC & Krispy Kreme (Luther Double Down) [TopCultured.com]

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL There, I Fixed It - Epic Kludge Photos

Video by: dunno source via Submit a Kludge!

I tip my hat to you sir. Billy Mays would be proud. – Ms. Fix-It

Favorite Comment: Fixer Dogmeat says, “A sobering fact: over 75,000 injuries (10,000 of them being children) are sustained from lawnmowers every year in the US alone! Mowers have no conscience and will indiscriminately lop off the extremities of anyone foolish enough to venture too close. If left unchecked, they will often run off only to join up in packs of strays that terrorize the entire area. So PLEASE…respect and obey the lawnmower leash laws! Keep your mower tied up in your yard so that senseless attacks can be prevented.”

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL Not Always Right | Funny & Stupid Customer Quotes

(Law Firm | Phoenix, AZ, USA)

Me: “This is [law firm], how can I help you?”

Customer: “Are you located on the fifth floor?”

Me: “Yes.”

Customer: “Well, I am on the fifth floor and there are no offices here.”

Me: “There are three law firms on the fifth floor, ma’am. We are the one all the way to the right of the elevator.”

Customer: “No, there are no offices on this floor. It’s totally open. And, its hot.”

Me: “Hot?”

Customer: “Yeah, its hot. I think you gave me the wrong address.”

(Verifies address, customer has the correct address.)

Customer: “Well, its just an open floor. I got out of my car up here and there’s no office.”

Me: “Are you… are you on the fifth floor of the parking garage?”

(My office window looks out at the roof (fifth) level of the parking garage. Sure enough there is a women on her cell phone pacing around the roof level of the parking garage.)

Customer: “You told me to go to the fifth floor.”

Me: “Of the office building, ma’am, not of the parking garage.”

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL Hacker News

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Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL tongodeon is a series of tubes

My new bank, Ally Bank, configures a security question and answer for customer service calls. In addition to your SSN, date of birth, and mother's maiden name they also ask you the question you specify and wait for the answer you've provided. This is good, because many standard questions are guessable in a way that user-defined questions may not be.



A real live human operator always asks the question and waits for a real live answer. This measure has the potential to not just improve my account security but add entertainment value as well:

Q: Do you know why I think you're so sexy?
A: Probably because you're totally in love with me.

Q: Need any weed? Grass? Kind bud? Shrooms?
A: No thanks hippie, I'd just like to do some banking.

Q: The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new Life to poison the Earth with a plague of men.
A: Go forth, and kill. Zardoz has spoken.

Q: What the hell is your fucking problem, sir?
A: This is completely inappropriate and I'd like to speak to your supervisor.

Q: I've been embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from my employer, and I don't care who knows it.
A: It's a good thing they're recording this call, because I'm going to have to report you.

Q: Are you really who you say you are?
A: No, I am a Russian identity thief.

Q: For the remainder of this conversation, "How can I help you today?" actually means "Would you like to buy some mescaline?" Do you understand?
A: I understand completely.

Update: Schneier picked this up. Woot.

Update 2: This post got a brief mention on John Hargrave has fun at VISA's expense, a hilarious story in itself.

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL Ars Technica

McAfee pushed out a virus definition update, 5958, at 06:00 PDT that causes false positive identification of the critical Windows system file svchost.exe. Machines running Windows XP Service Pack 3 using the 5958 definitions will delete the file, causing many key Windows services to fail to start. The Windows file is being mistakenly detected as W32/wecorl.a. Failure to start svchost.exe causes Windows to automatically reboot, hindering repair efforts.

At the time of writing, McAfee's support forum appears to have either gone offline or collapsed under the load, making threads about the issue inaccessbile. Before going offline, the company advised the following measures:

1. Boot the system into safe mode
2. Drop the attached extra.dat in c:/program files/common files/mcafee/engine
3. Reboot into normal mode

Rebooting into Windows normal mode type “shutdown /a” in the run line this aborts the automatic shutdown.

This will allow them to apply the exclusion.

The shutdown command must be run as an Administrator; regular users aren't able to abort shutdowns in progress.

The broken DAT should now be purged from the McAfee's distribution network (Akamai expected the purge to be completed by 09:45 PDT), and an updated version, 5959, was made available at around 10:15 PDT. This updated version is identical to 5958, with the problem definition removed.

 At this point, anyone who hasn't been bitten by the problem should be safe. That may be little consolation to the estimated tens of thousands of computers damaged already. With unconfirmed (Update: now confirmed) reports that big customers like Intel have been hit by the problem, that number is set to grow.

This is not the first time a virus scanner has caused such a problem; a month ago, BitDefender had a similar issue, though the McAfee issue seems a little easier to repair. Just as with the BitDefender issue, this is something that would be trivially detected with even basic QA, which makes the regularity of such problems perplexing.

Users in our Windows Technical Mojo forum are discussing the issue along with some possible fixes.

Update: Official solutions from McAfee

Read the comments on this post

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL The Consumerist

Tonight Next Wednesday, April 28, from 5 to 10pm at participating Baskin Robbins, small scoops of ice cream are 31 cents each plus tax (limit three 2.5 oz scoops per person). In return for your business, Baskin Robbins will also be donating $100,000 to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. At some locations, you will also have a chance to donate to your local fire department. Here's a store-finder. One guy I know won't be there is the guy from the Worst Company in America street video who said "they never have enough flavors."

31 Cent Scoop Night [Baskin Robbins]