Busted – by a hacker!

It’s always great when hackers, who are truly gifted with computers in some capacity or another, are useful instead of a pain in the arse.  It’s even better when they bust government officials.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports today that a US hacker created a programme-Wikiscanner-which has identified computers at offices belonging to the CIA, BBC, Reuters, and the UN being used to edit various Wikipedia entries-either to insert insulting or offensive information about others, or, occasionally, to remove it.

Some samples of edits from the article:

“Wikiscanner” points to Central Intelligence Agency computers as the sources of nearly 300 edits to subjects including Iran’s president, the Argentine navy, and China’s nuclear arsenal.

A CIA computer was the source of a whiny “Wahhhhh” inserted in a paragraph about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s plans for the office.

Wikiscanner … identified a BBC computer as being used to change US president George W. Bush’s middle name from “Walker” to “Wanker” at Wikipedia.

A computer belonging to Reuters news service is listed as adding “mass murderer” to a Wikipedia description of Bush.

Humourous in some cases, but also an example of why Wiki is not the most reliable of sources.

And I certainly do hope there is an enquiry into the malicious alterations!  (There are more examples at the source link).

Source: SMH

Halloween already?

I have no words for this except… she wants us to buy clothes from her?! Can you say hell to the no!!

 

(yes, that’s Paris Hilton)

 

 

 

Hollywood brings the War home

[This post's sources are linked within the post itself, instead of at the end.  Assume the description of each movie is from the linked source unless otherwise indicated.]

A number of movies centring on the war in Iraq are due out over the next eight months or so, a surprising, possibly risky, move given the war-weary status of the country.

The onslaught of films begins 9 November with Lions of Lambs.  It stars Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Robert Redford, who took double-duty by also directing it.

Lions for Lambs interweaves the stories of two American students who end up in Afghanistan, their idealistic professor, a senator and a journalist. The trailer shows Cruise, who plays the senator, in his office on Capitol Hill shouting at the journalist, Streep: “Do you want to win the war on terror? Yes or no? This is the quintessential yes or no question of our time.”

Next comes Rendition (Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, and Alan Arkin) about a CIA terror suspect who disappears.

his American wife and a CIA analyst find themselves caught up in a struggle to secure his release from a secret detention facility somewhere outside the US.

In The Valley of Elah stars Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon.  Based on a true story

It is about post-combat stress and is based on a real incident in which a soldier was murdered while on a drinking spree with his comrades on return from Iraq.

There are a lot more-I’m not going to list them all.  The links for all the above except Rendition are the same, and will take you to a good story that talks about more of the films.

As if Britney needed another thing to bawl about in public

Now we know why she was bawlin when she left her lawyer’s office the other day.  She was dumped.

Laura Wasser, who also handled divorces for Angelina Jolie and Nick Lachey, has apparently dropped Britney.

She did provide Britney with a list of other lawyers.

My thought is that Wasser specialises in divorces, not custody battles.  The initial KFed/Brit custody issue was relatively straightforward.

But now it’s messy.  And Britney is making it messier by partying and appearing to (← key phrase) sleep around.  There are lawyers who specialise in custody battles.  And lemme tell ya-if KFed has everything he says he’s got, it’s gonna take the best damned lawyer on the planet to help Britney (if she can even be helped at this point).

Source: TMZ.com

Looks like Papa Lohan was wrong (big shocker)

X17 (bless them) has video and photos of LiLo, still in rehab, on a bike ride in Utah.  And omg she’s smiling and it looks real!

As always, I won’t post X17’s photos, but you can follow the link below to the story for the pics and vid.

[I won't be heartbroken if she stops providing me with stories (there will always be another walking trainwreck in H'wood-plus there's an actors' strike looming). ]

Source:  X17.com

And back she goes…

Skanky Wino and her husband have returned to rehab.  But not before one last night of drinking.  And he called it a retreat.  Sounds like it’s going to be a successful venture for sure… (And I have ocean-front property in Kansas to sell…).

Source: FemaleFirst

Either he thinks Reese is a man, or he thinks Jake is doing her hair

Ryan Phillipe, seemingly-bitter ex-hubby of cutie Reese Witherspoon and father of her two kids, Deacon and Ava, said he didn’t want Jake (Gyllenhaal, Reese’s boyfriend) around his kids, then

made some crude Brokeback Mountain remark.

On the off-chance that you lived at the bottom of a pond a couple years ago, Brokeback Mountain was a surprise blockbuster, commonly referred to as a ‘gay cowboy movie’.  Jake and Heath Ledger played two cowboys who fell in love at a time when homosexuality was not accepted.

So I’m guessing that the remark Ryan made was referring to Jake’s sexuality.  If that’s the case, then he either thinks his ex-wife is a male, or Jake is spending an awful lot of time doing her hair!  Because Reese and Jake spend a lot of time together.

Now, Reese has come out and said that she doesn’t allow Jake to spend the night when the kids are there, and frankly, I believe her.

Furthermore, Mr Phillipe has not lived the celibate lifestyle himself.  And I don’t recall him having this objection when Reese and Jake dated before their temporary break.

Methinks someone is a wee bit jealous.

Source: USMagazine.com

Was someone trying to be funny?

The word for the fear of long words:

hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

Source: Readers Digest, September 2007 ed. page 109

Justice League of America movie

A Justice League of America (JLA) movie is in the works. Currently, IMDb lists the projected release as 2010 but there have been whispers that it could come out much sooner.

Sources for IESB have confirmed that JLA will consist

 of at least Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and the Green Lantern.

Seems JLA will be shooting starting sometime in the beginning part of 2008.

Source:  IESB

Seven Alarm fire kills 2 NY Firemen

A massive fire, just south of NYC’s Ground Zero has claimed two firemen’s lives. The Deutsche Bank building was damaged heavily on 9/11. The fire took around 250 firefighters nearly 5 hours to extinguish. Its cause wasn’t immediately known.

Both firemen appear to have to suffered cardiac arrest due to inhalation of carbon monoxide. Another ‘five or six’ firefighters were hurt, according to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

One man has been identified as Joseph Graffagnino, 34, who has served for 8 years. The other’s name wasn’t released as family hadn’t been notified. I’ll update when I get it.

Edit: The other fireman’s name is Robert Beddia, 53. I don’t have years of service currently.

Source: CNN.com

FoxNews.com