Anonymous vs Israel

The hackers at Anonymous decided to hack into a bunch of Israeli websites, in support of terrorism as a general principle.  One problem with this news story is that I can't find any mention of it on the Anonymous Facebook page.  Other sites have the same story too, such as Russia Today.  Russia Today, the World's Foremost Authority.

The website of the attack seems to have been counter-hacked by Israel, and has stayed that way for several days.

On the other hand, this OpIsrael web site is up and running, and lists websites it says it has hacked.  I checked a few of their claimed victim sites and they were up and running fine.

Part of the Anonymous group is called AnonGhost, and they have an anti-Israel movie on YouTube.  It has good sound effects but doesn't say much.  Sad flute music.  Funny, they leave out the scenes where the Arabs launch rockets, and only include shots where Gaza people are running from artillery or rocket hits.

After the weapon strikes, the locals all run towards the site.  They must know that there isn't any likely follow-on strike.

This really isn't guerrilla war.  I call it slow war.

Heartbleed

A Bug with a logo!

The famous Heartbleed web security bug is beginning to be fixed all over the web.  First you can check if your bank or office or PayPal is vulnerable by using the tool on this website. 


Second, change the passwords on all your money-related websites if they are NOT vulnerable.  If they still are, then you'll have to change it again after they fix it.  But fixing it twice, once now and again later, is recommended.

These sites are suspected of being victims, so if you're a user, change your passwords here too: gizmodo.com, kotaku.com, lifehacker.com, stratfor.com, inspire.nbn.org.il.

That lifehacker site is pretty useful in normal times.

For more background, you can start with an easy intro by James Fallows. Get practical advice from Brian Krebs.  This is the first big bug in my memory where it not only has its own Logo but its own website.

For a deeper look, the experts all turn to Bruce Schneir, who recommends this insight.

Remember, if the head of the CIA can get hacked and lose his job, then anything can happen to the rest of us.

   Cheers

Peace Talks Circling the Drain — Flushed?

To the surprise of nobody, the Peace Process is lost at sea, somewhere near that Malaysian airliner.

There was a plot twist at the end, though.  Netanyahu the Likudnik was putting pressure on Mahmoud Abbas to extend the peace talks.  I don't know anybody who predicted this.  So maybe the Arabs do have the upper hand at this point.   We'll have to watch and see.

Abbas himself just turned 79 last week.  How many more years will he be running the PA?  And who's next?

The PA itself is apparently gone, though.  They've replaced it with a new Arab "State of Palestine".  The current agreements, are only between Israel and the PLO.  Abbas is also head of the PLO.  Will the PLO be dissolved too?

Abbas and the new fake Palestine will get all kinds of lovely paperwork from the UN, and they'll display it proudly and have high-level announcements, and meetings.  And then...   What?   A big strawberry from the Israelis.

The rubber hits the road when Abbas starts importing weapons 'Legally', probably into Gaza.  Israel will stop it.  Then what?  War?  More likely, Abbas will set up mutual defense treaties with a number of states that are already at war with Israel.  This could include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria (ha!), and probably Iraq.   I foresee longer speeches.

They're also threatening to tie up Israel in the ICC.  At worst they can prevent some Israeli leaders from travelling to some parts of the world where they don't want to go anyway.  Britain and the US aren't likely to go along.

Maybe somebody will disband the UNRWA and make the new Palestine take in all the descendents of the refugees.  A fine kettle of fish for Abbas then.  He'll probably retire the next day.

Maybe that's it!  Netanyahu could have been planning this from the beginning.  Once there is a state of "Palestine", there's no excuse for having all those refugees.  Heck, Lebanon could just get rid of their problem by demanding the people in the UN camps be repatriated.  Let's keep this idea our secret for a while, until after Abbas has joined those 15 UN organizations.

If the new Palestine announces its intent to liberate the rest of Israel for the Arabs, I think it would be a declaration of war.  That plus a few rockets coming from Gaza might be enough to start the real thing.  But even the Big War in Europe started with a phony war for nearly a year.

On the other hand, Israel could ask for a do-over.  Israeli diplomats have just ended a strike and Israel hasn't been playing with a full team.

This whole thing could spiral out of control.  Or just be intercontinental flatulence.

Blowup at Vassar

The previously all-female upper crust colleges Vassar and Swarthmore have converted their branches of the Jewish student organization to a new form, the "Open Hillel". Which means Arab and American anti-Zionists, and worse, are invited to speak. And which also means big controversy.

The last meeting was so vicious that the other Israel-haters washed their hands of the Vasserites.  Vassarinos? 

There Blows the Neighborhood!

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I live near the Arab neighborhood of Jebl Mukaber.  A guy from Jebl Mukaber came into my (Jewish) neighborhood to blow us all up.  They caught him before he killed anybody, and he confessed.  This terrorism thing is real.  I'm not fond of it.  There had been a gas leak explosion, by accident, down in Gilo, and it was in all the papers.  This guy read about it and decided it was a great idea.

Still, I think the murder rate in Chicago is higher than Jerusalem.

There are a bunch of educational channels on YouTube, some of them are individual efforts, and both charming and informative.  One episode in the "Smarter Every Day" series is this investigation into Poop Splash Elimination.  Practical science.  Yes, he said "Elimination".  I just got the joke.  Anyway, it's dead-on serious, and exactly what you think.

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Back From the Future

I'm adding several backlogged items all on one day.  It kinda looks funny, I know.

A bizarre and wonderful bit of music from the Leningrad Cowboys.  An old tune in a new wrapping. Sweet and absurd at the same time.



Wait for the dancers at the one minute mark...

UPDATE1:  The video isn't available anymore.
UPDATE2:  I had completely ignored the fact that Leningrad is now called St. Petersburg.

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If you can remember back to last Passover, or the last time you read the Bible, or even went to the movies, you might remember the 10 Plagues that Moses helped bring to Egypt.  Well, the Egyptians are still mad, and they're suing us!  We should tell them to collect from Allah.  Or maybe Cecil B. DeMille.

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Apparently, saturated fats, and eggs, are now good for you.  Margarine is bad for you.  We're now told to eat more red meat and butter.  Just not together.  Eventually Woody Allen will be proved right: Tobacco and deep fat are the best.

The CIA is protecting us from Congress?

Or protecting themselves.

Senator Dianne Feinstein is really angry.  The CIA was caught hacking into the computer system that her Senate Intelligence Committee was using to investigate the CIA itself.  See the Washington Post on this.  Or if it's not available for free, see this Mother Jones explanation.  This is about as paranoid as it gets.  I am rarely surprised by the news.  But this time I am blown away.

This is nearly a coup.  Senator Feinstein is of the same party as Obama.  Talk about spying on your allies!

Lost and Found

And "Found" is scarier than lost!

I had a little calendar book.  I lost it a couple of weeks ago.  I looked everywhere.  It didn't turn up, and my notes were overflowing out of my index cards.  So I bought another calendar book.   Then this morning I spotted the old one here on my desk, just under the computer screen.  This was very shocking.  I sit here almost every day. There is no way I could have missed it.  So who put it back on my desk?

Confess!

I need Brains!

This blog has been hibernating.  I'm bringing the zombie to life.  More soon.