smoking, ransomware, phallic Norwegian rock
dw - smoking
6/28/2017 9:35 PM
When I was a kid, most adults smoked. My Father smoked; my Mother didn't. Seems like most of my parents' friends smoked. Husbands were more likely to smoke than wives. Older unmarried women tended to smoke. (This is just my recollection of the people I encountered, not an accurate statistical portrayal of the 1960s.) I wonder how many of these adults made an effort not to smoke around children? I think most kids made it clear that we didn't like smelling and breathing in other people's smoke.
Smoking was obviously bad for people. (And expensive.) But it was later that the negative effects of second-hand smoke received publicity. But smokers were addicted, and, somehow, smoking in the presence of children - or even non-smoking adults - was not seen as reprehensible. It should have been. And it should be, still.
Another ransom-ware attack is under way - MSWindows, again.
The payment email address has been disabled, so at this point there's no way to pay - if you want to take that route to regain access.
We're back to the same old precautions:
(1) Stay current with security updates.
(2) Make regular, frequent backups. Store backups offline, so they can't be infected. Remote backups will also help for physical damage to your primary site (theft, fire, flood, earthquake, vengeful exs).
Tuesday June 27, 2017
Someone lopped off Norway's penis-shaped rock, but locals are determined to re-attach it
"It's iconic. It looks like an erect penis, actually. You have a rather spectacular view over the local area."
Saturday ... joggers discovered that Trollpikken - which ... loosely translates to "troll c--k or d--k" - had been cracked off.
The rock had holes drilled into it, he said, and tools had been discarded nearby. Police are investigating, and the culprits could face a one-year prison sentence for a serious environmental crime.
Google bullying....Tuesday June 27, 2017
Meet the small business owners who first pitted Google against the European Union
On Tuesday, the European Commission announced it is fining Google a record 2.42-billion euros - roughly $3.6 billion Cdn - for violating antitrust rules by listing links to its own online shopping services above those of rivals.
The commission gave the Mountain View, Calif., company 90 days to change how it lists search results in Europe or face fines of up to five per cent of the average daily worldwide turnover of parent company Alphabet.
"This decision is going to certainly protect consumers in Europe and restore the unbiased and comprehensive search results that consumers still think they're getting when they go to Google."
This isn't going to protect consumers on the rest of the planet, so you may want to consider using other search engines. (Perhaps even multiple search engines, and comparing their results?) This case was about manipulating the market for Google's profit. There's also the aspect of the "bubble" a skewed search engine puts you in, returning results that it thinks you want, supporting (and reinforcing) your own biases, instead of objective results from searches about contentious issues."All internet companies have an uncomfortable but unavoidable reliance on search engine traffic, on being found and discovered in search engines. And, of course, because Google is so dominant, when we say search engines, we actually mean Google," she said.
"So when Google excludes or demotes competitors from its search results that has a catastrophic impact on those service's ["services'"? Error by the quoter, rather than the speaker?] traffic and revenues."
In fact, she said she's had to put [her own company] Foundem on temporary hiatus amid crumbling revenues, but hopes to get up back up and running soon.
Asked why she chose to take on such a powerful company, Raff said: "The outcome of this case is going to determine the future of competition, innovation and consumer choice across the internet. That is worth fighting for."
What's Google's motto? "Do no evil"? I think hiding your competition from your - and their - potential customers might be evil. It's certainly not good, nor fair.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/899477.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
6/28/2017 9:35 PM
When I was a kid, most adults smoked. My Father smoked; my Mother didn't. Seems like most of my parents' friends smoked. Husbands were more likely to smoke than wives. Older unmarried women tended to smoke. (This is just my recollection of the people I encountered, not an accurate statistical portrayal of the 1960s.) I wonder how many of these adults made an effort not to smoke around children? I think most kids made it clear that we didn't like smelling and breathing in other people's smoke.
Smoking was obviously bad for people. (And expensive.) But it was later that the negative effects of second-hand smoke received publicity. But smokers were addicted, and, somehow, smoking in the presence of children - or even non-smoking adults - was not seen as reprehensible. It should have been. And it should be, still.
Another ransom-ware attack is under way - MSWindows, again.
The payment email address has been disabled, so at this point there's no way to pay - if you want to take that route to regain access.
We're back to the same old precautions:
(1) Stay current with security updates.
(2) Make regular, frequent backups. Store backups offline, so they can't be infected. Remote backups will also help for physical damage to your primary site (theft, fire, flood, earthquake, vengeful exs).
Tuesday June 27, 2017
Someone lopped off Norway's penis-shaped rock, but locals are determined to re-attach it
"It's iconic. It looks like an erect penis, actually. You have a rather spectacular view over the local area."
Saturday ... joggers discovered that Trollpikken - which ... loosely translates to "troll c--k or d--k" - had been cracked off.
The rock had holes drilled into it, he said, and tools had been discarded nearby. Police are investigating, and the culprits could face a one-year prison sentence for a serious environmental crime.
Google bullying....Tuesday June 27, 2017
Meet the small business owners who first pitted Google against the European Union
On Tuesday, the European Commission announced it is fining Google a record 2.42-billion euros - roughly $3.6 billion Cdn - for violating antitrust rules by listing links to its own online shopping services above those of rivals.
The commission gave the Mountain View, Calif., company 90 days to change how it lists search results in Europe or face fines of up to five per cent of the average daily worldwide turnover of parent company Alphabet.
"This decision is going to certainly protect consumers in Europe and restore the unbiased and comprehensive search results that consumers still think they're getting when they go to Google."
This isn't going to protect consumers on the rest of the planet, so you may want to consider using other search engines. (Perhaps even multiple search engines, and comparing their results?) This case was about manipulating the market for Google's profit. There's also the aspect of the "bubble" a skewed search engine puts you in, returning results that it thinks you want, supporting (and reinforcing) your own biases, instead of objective results from searches about contentious issues."All internet companies have an uncomfortable but unavoidable reliance on search engine traffic, on being found and discovered in search engines. And, of course, because Google is so dominant, when we say search engines, we actually mean Google," she said.
"So when Google excludes or demotes competitors from its search results that has a catastrophic impact on those service's ["services'"? Error by the quoter, rather than the speaker?] traffic and revenues."
In fact, she said she's had to put [her own company] Foundem on temporary hiatus amid crumbling revenues, but hopes to get up back up and running soon.
Asked why she chose to take on such a powerful company, Raff said: "The outcome of this case is going to determine the future of competition, innovation and consumer choice across the internet. That is worth fighting for."
What's Google's motto? "Do no evil"? I think hiding your competition from your - and their - potential customers might be evil. It's certainly not good, nor fair.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/899477.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]