Tricycle and Scooter's Bastard Love Child

What Is This Thing?

Ok, I have seen this... contraption chained to a bicycle stand for the last week or so in downtown Chicago.

What the hell is it?! It's like a scooter and a tricycle crashed into each other and this is the result. The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of mobility.

It's driving me insane. It's seems constructed well. But if it's for an adult, the sheer biological mechanics involved in using it boggle the mind. And if it's for a toddler, the handle bars seem a little out of reach. I suppose a small Chimpanzee would fit comfortably (what, with the longer arms and all), but I'm sure I would have noticed one ambling by the corner of Canal and Washington.

One thing is for sure, that seat looks real uncomfortable.

UPDATE: Someone here at work has commented that perhaps it's a transportation device for "Little People " proportions. Maybe so, but just from the dimensions involved I'm thinking 10-12" legs and 20-28" arms. Is that normal for "People of Challenged Verticality"?

pwn3d!!

Todd Schriber is US Rep Rehberg's press aide (he has since been fired). He contacted attrition.org (of all places) to try to solicit a hacker to change his GPA. What follows is a truly classic piece of social engineering. It includes a reference to the Avian Network Protocol (RFC 1149), pictures of squirrels, and has the best movie-style hacker-babble I've ever seen.

Shouldn't need anything else. Have had a chance to set up a couple of IDS/IPS evasion bots, perimeter scanning came up clean. Small SQL injection issue merged with XSS shows that the backend database may be either 768-bit encrypted or a simple 3DES matter, but a little more time should take care of that issue. Once the tables are writable to sa, should be ready to jump in and jump out with no problem. One of their systems caught an early sniff, but was shut down with a smurf.

For the non-technical: trust me, the above makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Which makes it funny, because good old Todd swallows it hook, line, and sinker.

Gerald Ford, Senselessly Eaten By Wolves

Gerald Ford, I hardly knew ye.

Seriously. I was in second grade or something when he was president. All I know about him, I learned from SNL. (sorry I can't find a video - so here's a completely unrelated SNL skit)

Technology Tuesday

The elusive Methuselah gene? Perhaps not, but glimpses into preventing senility.

Nothing scares me more than the thought of losing my ability to reason. Hopefully by the time it becomes an issue, it won't be an issue any longer.

Mating Habits Of The Sex-Crazed Korean Business Weasel

When I think of cities famous for prostitution (hey, it happens more often then you would think), I'd say Amsterdam pops to mind first. Then perhaps Bangkok. But Seoul, Korea?

The South Korean government is handing out gifts for office workers who promise not to visit brothels this holiday season.

"If you promise yourself to make it a healthy night out at the end of the year, and if you recommend this to others, we are giving lots of prizes," the Ministry of Gender Equality said in an Internet posting.

It this a real problem? Are there hordes of drunken businessmen descending on the brothels like the Visigoths sacking Rome? I'm fairly well read, and I try to keep up on world news and whatnot, so you would think I would have at least heard about rampaging packs of sex crazed Koreans before now.

But, perhaps it's not quite as the Ministry of Gender Equality would have you believe. Obviously some do not agree.

Many South Koreans were bewildered by the plan, saying it was a waste of money and gave the impression that South Korean men cannot keep away from brothels.

"Do they really think men buy sex every time they have a dinner party?" wrote one Korean on a comment page of the South Korea's largest daily Chosun Ilbo.

Hell, do they buy sex anytime? Well, in general, I mean. I'm sure there are some, otherwise there wouldn't be any prostitutes at all in Seoul. But I imagine the men of Korea are much like all men around the world. Using my state-of-the-art making shit up because it sounds right, I would say: some buy, most do not.

The cynic in me says this is an end-of-year budget thing. To justify getting at least the same budget as last year, an agency or department has to show it spent all of the previous year's budget. Maybe staples were cheaper than anticipated this year.

I've been to many a work-related dinner before. And some of them have even had Koreans in them. Not once was going and finding a prostitute even raised as an option for an after dinner activity (and there was plenty of the drinking). However, the thought does creep in that I, in fact, am not Korean. What if there's some subtle body language I'm not picking up? I'll just have to pay closer attention next time.

And bring extra cash.