Cybersecurity: not just protecting Grandma's bank account anymore

(source: PC Magazine)

So reportedly, PNC Bank's website just got hit by a Muslim hacktivist group (don't worry, it was just a DDoS). It's supposedly another front in the Youtubes Wars of 2012. But, like most of these shenanigans, people suspect it to be just a tool for political aims. Specifically, some government people think it's just a cover for Iran's burgeoning hacker corps.

The point is, for years we've been hearing people try to use "cyberterrorism" as another way to scare people into securing their networks. But it's now finally happening.

So before, security experts were saddled with warning about your credit card number getting sent to Russia as their most realistic argument. And the non-security person could counter with "Well my bank will just reverse the charges, so why is it worth running a hardened Arch Linux system just to look at cat pictures?" Now, hopefully, we're seeing that it's not just about weighing the hassle of your own (or your customers') info getting out. It's a matter of national security. So finally, people: get your shit together!

The Howling Fat Men of the Coen Brothers

Of course this is a Coen Brothers trope. Why would you expect any different?

But really, this video might be better if it were restricted to John Goodman. The entire thing is worth it just to see him burst out of the ground amidst a thunderstorm, yelling at the sky like he clawed his way out of the womb that is Mother Earth herself. Nothing will convince you of that man's overwhelming presence like that clip.

Walph Raldo Emerson

Is it just me, or does anyone else always think that when they read "Ralph Waldo Emerson"? I have no idea why it transmutes in my head to that, but it does. And for some reason the name "Walph" is hilarious to me.

Somehow Google yielded no pages discussing this very important phenomenon. Looks like there's still a topic in this world that's not on the internet. (Until now. And yes, that's half the purpose of this post.)

The new iPod nano

(via imgur)

Uh oh, better break out the lawyers.

P.S. I swear this won't turn into a 24/7 Apple Hate blog. But for the time being, I've decided to stop holding back at all. The fact that we can now patent rounded corners and make the other guy pay $1 billion for it means all the stops have been pulled out and we're now in free-fall toward patent law insanity. And Apple has (unexpectedly) decided to become the poster child of all of it.