I’ve been toying around on OKCupid today (view profile) and enjoying some of the tests. One test in particular actually hit with impressive accuracy. The results even caused me to laugh out loud at one point because the statement about “my Daemon” was just so very true!

This particular personality test uses The Golden Compass as its basis. It supposedly determines your “Daemon” according to the setting of the The Golden Compass, but I can’t say because I haven’t read the books nor have I seen the movie. After this fun personality test, however, I may very well rent it and read it.

A link to this personality quiz is at the bottom of this post.

Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I have experienced an increase in spam messages from the Yahoo network, and prior to this I received spam over ICQ in the form of authentication requests. This sort of spam is worse than any unsolicited junk mail that I’ve received, in my opinion, because it’s delivered directly to my desktop in real time.

Up to this point I have been using the Trillian instant messenger. It’s a great piece of software and I’ve enjoyed its interface and options above the other instant messengers.

The one thing that it’s lacked, though, is spam blocking. So what have I done to stop spam from Yahoo and other chat networks? I’ve switched to Pidgin.

Pidgin is a somewhat unwieldy program, and to be perfectly honest it feels unfinished according to Windows standards. It’s also unnecessarily complicated to install skins and the default interface is a very plain theme that looks like something from the 80’s that’s trying to appear futuristic. Yeah, it’s about as bad as it sounds. These bumps are not surprising considering that it’s originally a Linux program that has been ported to Windows.

Once you get over the adoption bumps though, you may find that it’s quite a nice program. It connects to the same chat networks that Trillian supports and then some, and there is also no Pro version. This means that you don’t ever have to pay to use plugins. Trillian, of course, only supports plugins if you buy the Pro version.

…and it’s the plugins where the magic really happens.

You want to stop Yahoo spam? Or the junk messages that you get from the other networks? No problem, just install Pidgin and then get the Bot Sentry plugin.

The Bot Sentry anti-spam plugin knows when you have received a message from someone who is not on your contact list, and it stops it from ever pestering you. It also sends a message back to the (potential) spammer and challenges them to enter a specific word or phrase. It’s just like posting on a forum: If you can’t pass the captcha then you can’t post. Well, if they can’t pass the test within 10 minutes then they can’t send you their message.

Better yet is the fact that you can customize the question and the answer that it requires. Currently mine is set to require potential spam bots to spell out the number 8, but it can be as simple or as detailed as you want.

It’s so simple that it’s brilliant.

The good news? It actually works. I tested it on a fellow that I know by removing him from my contact list, and I had no idea that he had sent me a message until he passed the test. When he did, the Bot Sentry anti-spam plugin actually sent his original message to me while notifying him that it was doing so. Thus you get to see their original message, and they don’t have to retype it…. and I only knew that all of this happened because he pasted the bot’s response to me.

I don’t know if it will block ICQ authentication spam, but it definitely blocks the other junk. For now I’m enjoying my return to a peaceful spam free IM.

Technorati Tags: spam, anti-spam, spam blocker, spam blocking, yahoo spam, yahoo, icq, msn, aim

My PGP keys have been removed from the keyserver. My pass phrase was not working, perhaps as a result of one or more of my keyboard’s keys unknowingly not working when I originally generated the keys. New keys should be available within the next 24 to 48 hours of this post.

We all know how interested I am in personal privacy and our ability to keep our information where it belongs: In our possession and not the world’s. Yes, it is therefor ironic that I have a blog, but I digress..

Earlier this evening I came across a post called How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords. I suggest that my visitors – old and new – read that post. It contains some useful information that I really should have posted here a long time ago.

I’ll expand a bit on that post rather than copy it, and I’ll repeat some of my thoughts here that I posted to the comments of that post. I think that good information should be shared, thought on, and credited and this is one of those situations.

Good password management is a lot easier than the other privacy practices that I have suggested. In fact, it’s one of those things that you can adopt with but a few simple clicks of the mouse. After that you’ll be done and you will have very little concern about someone’s ability to break into your accounts.

My suggestions are very simple:

• Get a free password manager. Here are Google’s results and here are Ask.com’s results. There are many options available to you.
Personally I use a program called Roboform (download). It has a Free and a Pro version, but I find the Free version to be sufficient for my daily web browsing.
• Once you have the software of your choice to manage your passwords you will need to begin using it. Take a little bit of time each day to change your password at each site that you visit. Roboform makes this easy because it can generate secure passwords for you and save them with a few simple clicks, but you can also use the free Perfect Password generator web page at the trusted GRC website.

There are pros and cons to the different password manager software. Roboform could probably use a slightly better interface, for example, but it makes everything wonderfully easy by not only automatically saving your passwords but it also automatically enters them for you. On the flip side, I don’t think that it’s possible to manually enter a password into Roboform.

Other password managers may allow you to manually enter your passwords and thus could be used to store passwords for stuff that you do away from the computer. So they could store your ATM PIN numbers for example. This won’t be as convenient as the automation provided by the software that I use, but it all depends on how robust you want the software to be.

Lastly, don’t forget to back up the data that is saved inside of the password manager. If something should happen and you lose your data then you may face the frustration of resetting passwords at each of your sites via their “lost password” page. That’s never fun. So export the information from your password manager to a second hard drive, a USB stick, or a similar location other than your main computer hard drive.

Then you’re done.

If someone gains access to your social profile, or your youtube profile, or your email because they were able to easily guess your password then that’s more than an inconvenience. That will give them enough information to impersonate you, and that could quickly lead to identity theft. It’s true that we’re all just “average people” that no one would want to target, but that’s not what matters to thieves and vandals.

What matters is that you’re an easy target, so make sure that you do something to change that.

Good day folks.

Technorati Tags: hacking, privacy, security, ID theft, identity theft

Tonight I was forced to activate Windows Vista over the phone because Vista assumed that I changed my hardware.

Despite how much #@$! this is to begin with, the huge problem here is that I did not change a single thing inside of my computer. Vista simply assumed that I did. In fact, the only thing that I changed were drivers.

This situation is even more uncomfortable because I use the OEM version of Vista, and that means that I have a limited number of activations. One of those activations were just wasted because Vista is such a monumental idiot that it believes that changing software drivers is the same thing as changing the physical hardware.

That’s just fantastic, isn’t it?

The pirates keep doing what they’re doing and are never hampered by this stuff. The rest of us pay out the money for it and we get this kind of BS treatment.

Screw you, Microsoft. After this point I am much more likely to turn to The Pirate Bay to get my system running again rather than your cockeyed activation system. If you want to treat me like a pirate, then blast it, I may as well be a pirate. At least then my system will actually work when I need it to.

Technorati Tags: vista, microsoft, windows vista, activation, genuine advantage

It may seem a bit early in the year to mention this, but this is such a cute idea that I couldn’t pass it up. I also know at least one person who will be really interested in this so I know that there must be others out there.

Tiny Prints Holidays allows you to have your family photos printed on very high quality, beautiful Christmas Cards. This isn’t your typical glossy paper that you see from other cards, but premium card stock for a more luxurious feel to your custom greeting cards.

Plus, they offer free image enhancements to insure that the card looks as good as possible. They will brighten your photo, sharpen it, and remove red eye for free. They’ll even contact you personally if they think other enhancements will improve your chosen photo for your greeting cards.

Click on over to Tiny Prints Holidays and take a look at their samples to see how lovely these Christmas Cards are, then order holiday cards for your family and friends.

Those cards are really cute!

Put the analytics code into this new theme, you dolt!

Grades are in for the Fall 2007 semester. Unfortunately I broke my 4.0 GPA run, but I’m still doing pretty good me thinks. Hopefully next semester I will be able to bring my GPA back up to 4.0; we shall see!

It will be a challenge because (of course!) I am enrolled in Korean Language & Culture Level 2. These classes require a great amount of time and effort to pass with a good grade.

Here are my grades for Fall 2007:

• LIFE SPTS: KARATE(BEGINNING)
Grade: P
• DRAWING I
Grade: B
• KOREAN LANGUAGE & CULTURE I
Grade: A
• LIFETIME FITNESS CONCEPTS
Grade: A
• ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
Grade: A
• Credits: 13.00
• Semester GPA: 3.7500
• Total GPA: 3.8889

One “B”, and it brings me down so much. Harumph! I insist on 3.9999! lol Yeah, yeah, I know that it doesn’t work like that.

Anyway, there’s that. Here’s to crossing fingers for next semester…

~Steph

I was playing around in the new Rise of Kunark expansion for EverQuest II when I came across this curious NPC. It seems that the folks behind the game enjoyed themselves quite a bit…. that, or they ran out of ideas for pets. I think that it’s the former, though, and I got a bit of a chuckle out of this.

Rise of Kunark has new pets for the characters. These pets do nothing but follow you around and try their darndest to look cute. Apparently there’s more than one, and these NPCs want you to “collect them all”!

Yes, seriously: They’re called Chokemon and the NPC says that they have to collect them all. You use a special magical ball to catch them no less!

This one is an image of my first Chokemon:

Enjoy getting them all!

Technorati Tags: Pokemon, Chokemon, EQ2, Everquest, MMO, MMORPG, EverQuest 2, Everquest II

Hello again folks,

I took this screen shot of Tabula Rasa a few days ago but I’ve been hanging out with a pal of mine, so I haven’t had the time to post it. The holiday santa hat was obtained by “using” the tree as one would any other world objects.

The Santa Clause hat has no stats on it, but it does make for a fun holiday decoration. Enjoy the view!

Note that this screen shot is VERY big and it may take a moment or ten for slower connections to download.

Technorati Tags: Tabula Rasa, Richard Garriot, mmorpg, mmofps, christmas, xmas, holiday, decorations, Christmas tree