thecages

Here's quite a cute hack of EmailXT. How embarressing for a security-focussed org.
It's not a sophisticated hack by any measure (PHPNuke has to be one of the easiest targets out there - apparently) and really does not qualify BadgeR as anything more than a script kiddie, but I do admire his theatrical mega-doom approach.



It features some fancy photoshopping, namechecks and even some lite background muzak.
BadgeR probably used a zombie to locate this PHP Nuked site and simply couldn't resist.

A peak behind the scenes



He also did it to http://www.designerturk.com/modules.php?name=News and http://www.italymail.net/modules.php?name=Submit_News

And there seems to be an earlier version of his scrawl at
http://webhosting24.net/content/view/15/45/

The closest references to (what seems to be) his slogan

Günahkar Sokakların Tövbekar Delikanlısı

are Favori filmim StarWars'tan bir sahne (Episode V), Fw: Turk astronot ve houston! cok komikkkk! and istanbul, Turkiye

I did find some literal translations:

Günahkar     - sinful. sinner. wrongdoer. culpable. impious
Sokak kadını - woman of the street
Tövbekâr     - penitent. repentant sinner
Delikanli    - young, brave man

Is it terrorism? Definitely not.
Relax! Have a laugh. He hacked EmailXT and won (for a while at least).

At least he did it with style!

Word of the day: Brutalism
Neatly sums up the architectural style of 70's and 80's public buildings.
The UNISA sunnyside campus being one of the most brutal.





Tune of the day: U2 - The Fly
Bono might be a boring poseur but he did look good in them tight pants and goggles.

It's no secret that a friend is someone who lets you help
It's no secret that a liar won't believe anyone else
They say a secret is something you tell one other person
So I'm telling you... child

Anecdote of the day: 27 double scotches
Last nite we dined with one of Anita's lubricious colleagues whose mortal fear of being a guest rather than the host prevented him from accepting an offer to a home-cooked meal and rather let us take his expense account for a spin.
He ended up telling stories of Dylan Thomas[1] and his kicker was how Dylan Thomas drank '27 double scotches' on the night that he died.
The actual truth is a little less impressive: he drank 18 straight whiskeys. He still died, though - badass.

 "When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes."
                                                  - Dylan Thomas

[1] Thankfully holding back on expansive quotes - since he himself is a poet.

Word of the Day:

Kleptocracy (klep to kra cy), n.
1. A body of people ruled by thieves.
2. Describing the regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Il.

Ever since being inducted into the Axis-of-Evil club of mega-evildoers by George W. he's been anaylsed, hated upon, lobbied against and tracked.

But he deserves some credit for not doing things by half measures. His regime is the most creatively fraudulent and loopy out there.


The Kim Jong-il Lowdown

Born:
According to his official biography, Kim was born on 16 February 1942, near Mt Paektu in North Korea. His birth, or so the propaganda goes, was foretold by a swallow and as soon as little Kim emerged into the world, a double rainbow appeared over the mountain and a new star formed in the skies.
Soviet records show, however, that he was born in the Siberian village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk.

Best of times:
His elevation to the position of general secretary of the Korean Workers' party in 1997, the final step before being named ruler of North Korea a year later, four years after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung. It was the first and, so far, only dynastic transfer of power in a communist state.

Worst of times:
Seemingly irritating his old friends in China and Russia last week after test-launching seven missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US.

What he says:
'Glory to the heroic soldiers of the people's army!'
Kim's only recorded public utterance, made into a microphone during a 1992 military parade.

What others say:
'An illustrious commander, endowed with outstanding commandership art and matchless courage and pluck.'
Rodong Shinmun, the official paper of the Korean Workers' party, on the occasion of Kim's 63rd birthday in February 2005.

Fun fact:
Number of candidates besides Kim Jong Il nominated this year for each of the 687 seats in North Korea's legislature: 0.

Also, finally conservatives with a sense of humour.

A little idea-fart from the internext.

I'm not much of a Garfield fan[1], but someone has hacked it in a cool way.

The idea is that if you remove all of Garfield's speech bubbles, thereby turning him into an ordinary cat, the cartoons actually become a lot more insightful.

Jon's altered relationship with his formerly wordy companinion[2] strikes very close to home with my relationship with our little ginger cat while Anita is away on business.









[1] Read: I haven't really laughed at a Garfield strip in some years.
[2] Can cats ever really be classified as companions? Perhaps co-habitor is more appropriate.
[*] Ever notice how Jon is the only character to never break the fourth wall? Odie does.

I've previously blogged about wanting to enter the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for the opening sentence to the worst possible novel and despite best intentions have again missed this year's contest - rats!

Here's the 2006 winner - retired mechanical designer Jim Guigli

Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.

I still believe that I have a winner in the form of the opening sentence to my as-yet unwritten novel: Memoirs of a Slut.

She never put out on the first date of the day.

Remember He-Man?


A massive chunk of my development into a sane, healthy and straight dude involved total immersion into the world of He-Man and his compatriots.

I never really obsessed over the animated series[1] but the toys, oh sweet mercy, the toys.
The only thing conceivably more valuable than a Masters of the Universe toy was a bicycle. And even that was subject to doubt when a salivating friend would gnaw the plastic wrapping from a new figurine or *swoon* vehicle.

I have a specific memory of the first time I saw a He-Man figurine in a supermarket[2] and can remember vividly each Christmas that involved extensions to my little plastic family.
One kid had the entire Castle Grayskull - I just about refused to visit him.

Mattel had my friends and I firmly in their global hands. It is the first brand which I took any notice of and in many ways it shaped my response to aspirational brands for many years.

I certainly don't think that MOTU affected me negatively in any real way[3], but I am amazed at how strong the lure that I swallowed in 1984 still is.


He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: a short overview

Prince Adam is prince of Eternia, part of the kingdom of Eternos ruled by his father King Randor.
He hides a secret identity as He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. This secret is closely linked to Castle Grayskull and the Sword of Power.
The three (Adam, Grayskull and Power Swordo) are bound together by the phrase "By the Power of Grayskull......I have the Power" which (along with a mess of lightning bolts) signals the transformation from mild-mannered space-fantasy prince to buff-o-licious loinfur-wearing hulk.


Aligned against He-Man and his sidekicks (Battle Cat, Man-at-Arms, Ram-Man, Orko et al) is Skeletor and his henchmen (Tri-Klops, Buzz Off and more).


Skeletor emerged from the tutalage of Hordak, despot of Etheria(not to be confused with Eternia) and after betraying his mentor's quest to rule Eternia as well, Skeletor assumed the bony throne in Hordak's lair - Snake Mountain - from where he plots to rule the planet himself.

With the players in place the battle for eternia begins as good dukes it out with evil in 22-and-a-half minutes of high adventure and homo-erotic thrills.




The story of the business of the MOTU franchise makes for equally thrilling reading and brings home just what a powerhouse Mattel was in the 80's.

And there's life in this old horse yet as a blockbuster remake of the brain-searing 1987 MOTU film[4] is in progress.


What's funny is that despite the wide reach of the MOTU universe (cult animated show, fan sites, film) it's really just the toys that drive me bonkers.
Especially that sweet fully-loaded Castle Grayskull set-up. oooh..



[1] Though the vocabulary from the series were instant additions to my daily lingo. 'By the power of Grayskull!' - oh yeah.

[2] The same goes for the first time I saw a Hot Wheels car.

[3] Sure, if I had saved that money rather than buying the figurines like my gran' said the compound interest could have had me on a yacht right now.

[4] I know, I saw it and even though I was 10 at the time I instinctively knew that it was kack.

Only in America.

Yesterday(4th of July) saw the 91st time that speed-eating athletes from around the world
converged on Coney Island for the annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest.

Here's the blurb

Four-time world champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan will look to make history as he defends his title against top eaters from around the globe.

And he did; I saw it on ESPN[1] with images courtesy of Fox Sports.

In the end it was a contest between Kobayashi and US/Irish hometown hero Joey Chestnut.
After 5 straight wins by the dimunitive foreigner the crowd were hungry(no, ravenous) for a US victory and were chanting 'Joey! Joey!' throughout.
This did not seem to bother the champ (who gave a post-match interview through a translator) as he worked his way through the pile of dawgs using a variety of pro-eating techniques including (I shit you not) The Tokyo Two[2] and his patented Solomon method[3].









[1] The most bizarre thing about all of this is not the contest(which is totally plausible) but how ESPN approach it.
They pull in some "knowledgable" commentators with Baseball-voices who proceed to describe the contestants as "athletes" and discuss training regimes and contest strategies.
My favourite line went something like this: "Well Bob, with Kobayashi now firmly in the lead he must be thinking about bettering that world record of his - if he can keep this up and put in a few four-dog minutes he could make it."
They've defined a term for peak performance - a four-dog minute. Incredible.

[2] Eating two dawgs at once

[3] Breaking the wiener in two and stuffing both halves in his mouth before soaking the bun in water to compact it.