While at my computer and much too tired to sleep or to do anything else, I recently checked out the latest visual adventures presented at Dark Roasted Blend. Unusual or amusing signs and charts are a recurrent feature there. I happened upon a collection of artistic riffs on barcodes entitled Japanese Creative Barcodes. All of them seem to be real barcodes; some can actually be scanned.

At the end of this article is a link to Barcode Kitties, which DRB described as “And as it is a custom nowadays to finish with a cute or LOL-lified cat pictures, no matter what the subject of an article, here are the “Barcode Kitties!” – Hello Kitty spin-off for those in need of a truly geeky cuteness…” (thumbnails are clickable)

According to the Barcode Kitties site:

Barcode Kitties is an adorable anime-influenced property starring a group of cute little kitten characters with bar code whiskers. Owned by Nagoya-based SEIKODO Corporation, the original idea for the Barcode Kitties characters grew out of the realization that (under the 2005 Sunrise Initiative establishing a global bar code standard) every product in the world – including the animals sold in pet shops – would have to have a bar code. That realization was eventually expressed through the idea of a special species of cartoon cats with bar codes as their whiskers.

That got me to thinking about microchips for reuniting lost pets with their human staff. No, I am certainly not one of those who think that barcodes – or microchips, whether in a cat or elsewhere – represent the “Mark of the Beast” from the Book of Revelations. Rather, it’s a way to get one’s beloved pet back if something goes wrong.

From Wikipedia:

A microchip implant’ is an identifying integrated circuit placed under the skin of a dog, cat, horse, parrot or other animal. The chips are about the size of a large grain of rice and are based on a passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology.
[...]
Uses and benefits

Microchips have been particularly useful in the return of lost pets. They can also assist where the ownership of an animal is in dispute.

Animal shelters and animal control centers benefit using microchip identification products by more quickly and efficiently returning pets to their owners. When a pet can be quickly matched to its owner, the shelter avoids the expense of housing, feeding, providing medical care, and outplacing or euthanizing the pet. Microchipping is becoming standard at shelters: many require all outplaced animals to receive a microchip, and provide the service as part of the adoption package. Animal-control officers are trained and equipped to scan animals.

In addition to shelters and veterinarians, microchips are used by kennels, breeders, brokers, trainers, registries, rescue groups, humane societies, clinics, farms, stables, animal clubs and associations, researchers, and pet stores.

Several countries require a microchip when importing an animal to prove that the animal and the vaccination record match. Microchip tagging may also be required for CITES-regulated international trade in certain rare animals: for example, Asian Arowana are so tagged, in order to ensure that only captive-bred fish are imported.

System of recovery

Effective pet identification and recovery depend on the following:

• A pet owner either adopts a pet at a shelter that microchips some or all adoptee animals, or the owner with an existing pet brings it to a veterinarian (or a shelter) that provides the service.
• The shelter or veterinarian does a pre-scan to verify that the animal initially does not have a chip, selects a microchip from their stock, makes a note of that chip’s unique ID, and then inserts the chip into the animal with a syringe. The injection requires no anesthetic.
• Before sending the animal home, the vet or shelter performs a test scan on the animal. This helps ensure that the chip will be picked up by a scanner, and that its unique identifying number will be read correctly.
• An enrollment form is completed with the chip number, the pet owner’s contact information, the name and description of the pet, the shelter’s and/or veterinarian’s contact information, and an alternate emergency contact designated by the pet owner. (Some shelters or vets, however, choose to designate themselves as the primary contact, and take the responsibility of contacting the owner directly. This allows them to be kept informed about possible problems with the animals they place.) The form is then sent to a registry keeper to be entered into its database. Depending on regional custom, selected chip brand, and the pet owner’s preference, this registry keeper might be the chip’s manufacturer or distributor, or an independent provider. In some countries a single official national database may be used. After receiving a registration fee, the registry keeper typically provides a 24-hour, toll-free telephone service for pet recovery, good for the life of the pet.
• The pet owner is also provided the chip ID and the contact information of the recovery service. This is often in the form of a collar tag imprinted with the chip ID and the recovery service’s toll-free number, to be worn by the animal along with a certified registration certificate that can be sold/transferred with the pet. This ensures proper identification when an animal is sold or traded. A microchipped animal being sold or traded without a matching certificate could be a stolen animal.
• If the pet is lost or stolen, and is found by local authorities or taken to a shelter, it is scanned during intake to see if a chip exists. If one is detected, authorities need to figure out which recovery service has the owner record, because there may be several different ones, each competing for the patronage of the pet owner. (Issues and solutions dealing with the problem of multiple registries have been moved to the article Pet recovery service.) They then call the recovery service and provide them the ID number, the pet’s description, and the location of the animal. If the pet is wearing the collar tag, anyone who finds the pet can call the toll-free number, making it unnecessary to involve the authorities. (The owner can also preemptively notify the recovery service directly if a pet disappears. This is useful if the pet is stolen, and is taken to a vet who scans it and checks with the recovery service.)
• The recovery service notifies the owner that the pet has been found, and where to go to recover the animal.

Many veterinarians perform test scans on microchipped animals every time the animal is brought in for care. This ensures the chip still performs properly. Vets sometimes use the chip ID as the pet’s ID in their databases, and print this number on all outgoing paperwork associated with its services, such as receipts, test results, vaccination certifications, and descriptions of medical or surgical procedures.

More here.

Cat mom hugs baby kitten

Disrupt the Narrative: Gas Pump Activism

(h/t: Ed Driscoll)

Do you have to take these gas prices in silence? I don’t think so.

All you have to do is download this pdf, print out a few copies and put them, along with a roll of Scotch tape, into your car.

The next time you fill up, instead of watching in horror as the dollar amount on the pump races by as the gallons trickle into your tank, affix one of these to the pump.

Take care to not cover vital information regarding safety, etc. and don’t cover any advertising.

Then drive off with a smile on your face, knowing that when the next person drives up to the pump they’ll either agree with you and be pleased to know that they’re not alone, be better informed by your message or if it’s an Obamabot, you’ll have thrown water on their circuitry and ruined their day.

Here’s the pdf you can download for a better quality image for printing purposes…

ObamaGasPrices.pdf

…As for the artwork, such as it is, feel free to share it with whomever. We need to pin the gas price tail on this Donkey.

…Here’s a great rework of the original [in small format] from botnet.

Read it all here (with rolling updates).

Tech Tips

• Color laser copies provide the strongest visual impact and the best resistance to outdoor weather. But if your budget doesn’t allow for color copies, by all means, use black-and-white laser copies or color ink-jet printouts. If you use ink-jet printouts, try to post them where they won’t be directly exposed to rain.
• You can even print the .pdf image on full-page self-stick labels. Read the package; some labels are removable by peeling and some are permanent. I do not recommend that you stick anything to someone else’s gas pump that might damage the paint. If you plan to run adhesive label sheets through a laser printer or copier, be sure to buy labels that are designed for laser printing. Otherwise, the adhesive could melt and damage the laser device. The package will clearly indicate whether the label sheets are for laser, ink-jet, or both.
• Are you a gas station owner? You can easily make a large-format banner or sign from the .pdf image, to show your customers the real source of their predicament at the pumps.

BlogRolling Will Cease Operation November 1st, 2010

From their site:

BlogRolling will be shutting down November 1st, 2010.

If you are not using BlogRolling code on your site anymore, you don’t need to do anything.

If you are using BlogRolling code on your site, you’ll want to follow these simple steps before the end of this month.

Get Your Links

If you want a list of the links in your BlogRoll, you have two options

1. Sign in to your BlogRolling account to cut and paste links out of your control panel.
2. Go to a page on your site that contains your blogroll and click on each link in your blogroll and copy down or bookmark the links you end up on.

Sorry, there is no “export” option in BlogRolling.

Clean Your Code

1. Remove the blogrolling JavaScript code from your site.
2. Not sure where the code is? “View Source” on your pages and search for “blogrolling” in the code.

Thanks for your support and patronage these many years! Happy blogging!

Note: 1389AD has already migrated 1389 Blog‘s blogrolls from BlogRolling.com to the built-in WordPress widgets. That involved manually copying and pasting roughly a thousand links. To my knowledge, at this time there is no available WordPress script plugin that would substitute for BlogRolling. It would be convenient to have an automatic mechanism to let other people display copies of one’s own blogrolls, but that feature apparently does not exist at this time.

Gotten any malware warning messages lately?

Some people have recently seen malware warning notices whenever they access any blog that contains a blogroll (or link list) sponsored by BlogRolling. Among the blogs that have been affected are two blogs belonging to 1389AD, namely 1389 Blog and 1389 Message Blog.

You may be relieved to know that the security alerts are a false alarm. I have since moved the Blogrolling link lists to a separate page, so that the messages will not come up when readers attempt to access blog posts.

If you own or administer a blog or website that displays a link list via BlogRolling, you will need to be aware of this. Malware warning notices can frighten and upset visitors to your blog, even if the notices are bogus.

BlogRolling may disappear soon

After being told about this, I visited the BlogRolling News & Status page. Here’s what I found:

Update on BlogRolling

SAT SEP 18th, 2010

We’re aware that there is an issue with BlogRolling blogrolls causing some browsers to display a security warning.

There’s nothing really wrong with BlogRolling itself but the way we connect your blog to the sites in your blogroll makes some security algorithms think there is.

If you find yourself in this situation, we recommend you remove the Blogrolling code from your site.

We’re probably going to be shutting the service down soon. We’ll post more information here and on our Twitter account (@blogrolling) as we decide on next steps.

We’re hoping we can give you enough time to get any data you need out of your blogrolling account before we shut down, but if you really need that data, you might want to get it now just in case.

Why aren’t we just fixing it and letting you continue using the service?

BlogRolling has largely been on auto-pilot for the last six months or so. The people who built it for us don’t work for us anymore. Even though it doesn’t make us any money, we wanted to keep it running because we know folks like it. But we’re not really comfortable with the code causing security warnings and that means it’s probably time for the service to end.

Thanks for your support. Stay tuned for more details in the next few days.

What to do?

If you are using BlogRolling to manage your blogrolls or link lists, you will need to get your links out of BlogRolling and put them somewhere else for safekeeping. As far as I know, there is no easy way to do this.

• As an emergency measure for making a rudimentary backup of your links, you can login to your BlogRolling account, then click the link to “My BlogRolls” if that page is not already visible, then click “Get BlogRolling Code” on your blogroll.

  Then scroll down to the “RSS” subheader, click to select the code. Copy and paste the URL into your favorite RSS feed reader, just as you would do with any new feed subscription. If you don’t already have a feed reader, you can use Google Reader.

• You can also select “Add/Edit Links” for the desired blogroll, then use your browser menu to Select All and Copy each page of links. Paste each page of links into a text file, using Notepad or something similar.

After that, if you want your links to be available to readers on your blog, you will have to re-enter them into whatever widget your blogging software provides for managing link lists. Unless someone decides to provide some software for automating this, it will be a time-consuming and arduous task. I have nearly a thousand links in BlogRolling at this point, so I expect it to take me awhile.

Click this link to get it.

This animated news ticker from Gates of Vienna looks attractive and works well. Clicking on any of the headlines will get you directly to the blog, so that you can participate in the comments. It’s already in the sidebar of 1389 Blog; scroll down to check it out!

Gates of Vienna is the voice of the European counterjihad. They also offer an excellent daily news feed that covers worldwide news with an emphasis on the counterjihad cause, along with other economic and political issues. It’s worth visiting the blog every day.

There are a variety of tools and techniques for linking content from other blogs. If you’re a blogger, you can choose whatever best suits your work habits, the style of your blog, and the bandwidth available to those who typically read your blog. For example, you can use the built-in RSS feed widgets in WordPress or Blogger to set up clickable headline feeds from the other blogs that you wish to support.

An unpleasant surprise

Earlier today, I accessed Blogrolling to add some entries to “1389′s Links.” This list appears in the 1389 Blog sidebar, and it offers a whole variety of links to sites that I find interesting, informative, or entertaining, and that readers might like to see also.

This is what came up:

Needless to say, I made no effort to contact ejder2121@windowslive.com.

What is Blogrolling anyway?

How you can use it

Many bloggers and blog readers have seen lists of links to other blogs that are hosted and maintained through a service called Blogrolling. This service offers a home page that lets you open an account, set up and populate your own blogrolls and link lists, and generate Javascript code to display the link lists on your blog or website. You can distribute this Javascript code so that others can display shared blogrolls on their sites. For example, 1389 Blog maintains a shared blogroll for the Stop Blog Censorship campaign, which you can see in the sidebar.

Advantages and disadvantages

Blogrolling has its advantages and disadvantages, but overall, I’m a big fan of it, because of its convenience, stability, and ease of use. It has features for sorting blogrolls by most recent blog update, for searching blogrolls, for finding out who has blogrolled you, and for backing up blogroll links. On the other hand, because Blogrolling uses Javascript to build the link lists for display on your page, Google will not index the the links, and will not use the links to raise the page rank of the blogs on the list. And if you put too many blogrolls on the same page, it will introduce delays in loading the page, especially for readers without broadband service. That is why most of our blogrolls have been moved to the Links resource page.

Why would anybody hack Blogrolling?

That’s a good question.

Blogrolling is simply a hosting service for link lists, open to both commercial and noncommercial sites. To the best of my knowledge, Blogrolling takes no political, religious, or ideological stance.

Yes, it’s true that some conservative, antijihadist, pro-Christian, and pro-Jewish blogs and blog groups use Blogrolling – to name a few: Center for Vigilant Freedom, Bear Flag League, The Hillbilly Ecosystem, Screw the UN, International Zionist Web, The Tennessee ConserVOLiance, Christian Blogosphere, Right Truth, and the Crescent of Betrayal Blogburst.

So is that why the Blogrolling site was hacked? Most unlikely! Not only are there plenty of sites on Blogrolling that hold views that oppose ours, but also, it is clear that the vast majority of sites that use Blogrolling are commercial blogs that express no particular point of view either for or against the Islamist agenda.

So what would be the point of hacking Blogrolling?

Maybe there was no real point, or at least no point that would make any sense. Maybe the miscreant(s) were motivated simply by a desire to prove that they have the ability to make nuisances of themselves by interfering with a site that many people use. To be sure, that’s not much of an accomplishment. It takes a lot less talent and ability to break in and mess up a web page than it takes to create and run a good site. Blogrolling will most likely notify the authorities and then get their site up and running again with enhanced security. And what will people think who happen to see the hacked site? They’ll most likely be inclined to feel more negatively toward jihadism, Islam, and Muslims in general than they already do.

Shortly after FHK launched we began searching for ways to increase our rankings on the search engines. The prevailing wisdom was that one good way to do this is to maintain a blogroll (that’s the ridiculously long list of blogs in the sidebar of many blogs), as it is a good way for bloggers to exchange much needed “links,” increase their link count, and move up in the ratings.

There were a few “monster” blogrolls that everyone was trying to get on, and I had one particular one in mind. I e-mailed, and begged and pleaded, and finally, the administrator of the blogroll heard my cries and added Ft. Hard Knox to his blogroll. I was so excited, because I was sure my ratings would double over night. Afterall, Ft. Hard Knox had just been added to every major blogroll in the conservative blogosphere! So I watched Technorati…and watched…lost some sleep watching that night…and guess what?! I didn’t get one single link on Technorati as a result of being added to that HUGE blogroll.

To make matters worse, my link count on Technorati actually started dropping over the next few weeks.

Something had to be wrong…I checked around, and sure enough, the blogroll administrator had done everything correctly. We were there – on all of these blogrolls, but the links weren’t being counted on Technorati. The blogroll administrator was using the popular blogroll service, Blogrolling, which is also the one we were using.

So I began researching. To my disappointment, I learned that blogroll links contained within javascript are no longer counted on Technorati, and neither are any links over six months old. So, no only were we not getting additional links from being added to the blogroll, but links from the bloggers I’d convinced to trade links with us six months ago were dropping off.

What to do?

Fortunately, we use WordPress for our blog, and I’ve checked, and the links from the WordPress blogrolls ARE still counting on Technorati (the other search engines like Google are harder to gauge, because they are not up-front about how their calculations are performed).

If you have a bunch of blogrolls on Blogrolling, you can simply use the OPML code from those blogrolls to import your links to WordPress.

That’s easier than it sounds.

1. Log in to Blogrolling
2. Click “Get Code” under the blogroll you want to import to WordPress
3. Scroll down to “OPML” and click “Click to select the code”
4. Log in to your WordPress blog, and go to the Dashboard
5. Mouseover “Blogroll,” then click “Import Links” on the drop-down menu
6. Under “Specify an OPML URL:” paste the OPML code you just copied from Blogrolling
7. Click on the “Import OPML File” button

That’s it…the links will appear on your blogroll. If you’re consolidating more than one Blogrolling blogroll, you may now need to weed through you WordPress blogroll and delete the duplicates. Within a day or two, your links will be showing on your blog friends’ link counts on Technorati.

Now, all you have to do is convince your friends to reciprocate the favor. Again. Good luck.

Also see:

• How to Prevent your Blog from Leaking Pagerank
• Technorati FAQ
• Technorati Wacks Blogrolling

New U.S. TSA rules take effect New Year’s Day 2008

In a nutshell: You will no longer be able to pack spare batteries in checked baggage, but, within limits, you will be allowed to pack spare batteries in carry-on baggage. Most lithium batteries for consumer electronic devices such as laptops and video cameras will meet the restrictions. But large, professional-grade batteries may exceed the limits; if you have any doubts, call the manufacturer before you pack your devices for travel.

Don’t Lose Your Batteries to Airport Security!

By Gary Krakow, TheStreet.com – 12/29/2007 10:34 AM EST

If you’re one of the millions of airline travelers who carry spare lithium laptop, cell phone and camera batteries with you, listen up: The government has some new rules which go into effect on New Year’s Day.

Fortunately, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is not worried about the batteries installed in your devices, be it an iPhone or laptop. Those are safe to bring along with you on the plane in your carry-on bag.

But the TSA is worried about loose, spare batteries. These are batteries with uncovered electrical contacts, which, if touched by other metal objects could cause an explosion and fire during a flight. So, the agency wants to make sure that any spare lithium batteries you take with you on your flight meet its new standards.

From the DOT Safe Travel site:

Effective January 1, 2008, the following rules apply to the spare lithium batteries you carry with you in case the battery in a device runs low:

• Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
• You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
• You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
• Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

The following quantity limits apply to both your spare and installed batteries. The limits are expressed in grams of “equivalent lithium content.” 8 grams of equivalent lithium content is approximately 100 watt-hours. 25 grams is approximately 300 watt-hours:

• Under the new rules, you can bring batteries with up to 8-gram equivalent lithium content. All lithium ion batteries in cell phones are below 8 gram equivalent lithium content. Nearly all laptop computers also are below this quantity threshold.
• You can also bring up to two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold. Examples of two types of lithium ion batteries with equivalent lithium content over 8 grams but below 25 are shown below.
• For a lithium metal battery, whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the limit on lithium content is 2 grams of lithium metal per battery.
• Almost all consumer-type lithium metal batteries are below 2 grams of lithium metal. But if you are unsure, contact the manufacturer!

Click here for more information and useful photos.

(Updated 11/3/07, 11/12/07, 11/15/07, 11/24/07)
We win, they lose!

From the redoubtable Jawa Report:

• Cyber Report of Loser’s Super Cyber Dud
• Al Qaeda’s Coming Cyber Attack Cancelled
• The Jawa Report: Al Qaeda Declares Internet Jihad
• Al Qaeda’s “Jihadi Battalions to Attack the Internet” Declaration (translation is here)

AQ is making threats. So what else is new?

Suffice it to say that 1389 won’t be staying up nights worrying about this.

Jihadis of every stripe have been trying to shut down opposition blogs and websites all along! Ever since there have been counterterrorist/anti-jihadist websites and blogs, there have been problems with pro-jihadist activity. It goes with the territory. We’ve dealt with hackers, trolls, cyberstalkers, DDOS attacks, abuse of “censorware” to block access to our sites, slander and defamation, frivolous (albeit expensive) lawsuits, death threats, actual physical attacks – you name it!

Guess what? We have been aware of the risks all along, and we know how to fight back. (See Dancho Danchev: Electronic Jihad v3.0 – What Cyber Jihad Isn’t if you’re curious about the techie details.) We’re still here, and we’re here to stay!

That said, let me remind everyone to continue to take appropriate precautions:

• Make sure that the latest versions of your anti-virus/anti-malware products are installed and configured correctly.
• Make sure that your operating system is up to date with all security-related patches.
• If you have a blog or website, take backups of everything and keep the backups in several places.
• If your site is unexpectedly down or cannot be accessed, contact your hosting provider immediately.
• If you are being attacked, please refer to our Stop Blog Censorship and Reference Material resource pages for more information about how to report it and what to do next. Also, please let us know by using this form to send us email.

Why did AQ announce this now?

Here’s one possibility: AQ is upset about the way things are going in Iraq. They’re forced to acknowledge that their posteriors are being kicked not only by US and coalition troops, but by the Iraqis themselves. (See “The darkness has become pitch black” – Osama bin Laden on Iraq situation.) The Jawa Report says that sources indicate that AQ may be turning more of its attention to Afghanistan, because it has no future in Iraq.

Numerous AQ attacks have been thwarted in various other places around the world. Yes, AQ is dangerous, but certainly not invincible. Not if we put our minds and hearts and strength into stopping them!

Also see:

• McAfee Avert Labs Blog: Cyber Jihad Isn’t Here Yet
• The Jawa Report: Open Source Assessment of al Qaeda and Taliban
• The Jawa Report: Al Qaeda Taking Over Taliban?
• Michael Yon Online Magazine: Iraqi Islamic Party Says al Qaeda Is Defeated
• Audio: Michael Yon on the Defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq
• Terrorism: Latest bin Laden message ‘the most important in al-Qaeda’s history’
• Cyber Jihad, Litigation Jihad Cyber Litigation Foiled
• WashTimes: Web sites ready for al Qaeda ‘morons’
• AP: Experts convene to discuss terrorists’ use of Internet

Technorati : Foehammer s Anvil, Internet, Iraq, Islam, Jawa Report, Jihad Watch, al Qaeda, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis, malware, tech tips
Del.icio.us : Foehammer s Anvil, Internet, Iraq, Islam, Jawa Report, Jihad Watch, al Qaeda, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis, malware, tech tips
Ice Rocket : Foehammer s Anvil, Internet, Iraq, Islam, Jawa Report, Jihad Watch, al Qaeda, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis, malware, tech tips

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(For rolling updates,
please scroll down)

Has this been happening to you?

Blog admin 1389 has been getting lots of Shout notices from Digg lately…

What happens every time 1389 clicks on the link in the email?

Click the link and try it yourself!

http://digg.com/users/1389#send-shout

Why?

This can happen to anyone whose user ID was banned from Digg.

User ID 1389 was banned from Digg a long time ago…

The reason why 1389 was banned is not especially relevant here, but if you’re curious…read 1389′s comments accompanying this article: Has Digg really unbanned those banned sites? In retrospect, we also found some evidence that an unscrupulous cyberstalker/troll may have been involved in getting 1389 banned, along with some other Digg users. Suffice it to say that 1389 considers it no dishonor to be banned from Digg.

Incidentally, there has been no action to ban this blog (thus far)!

Note that, even though Digg user ID 1389 was banned, neither 1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech, nor the blog’s domain or IP address, has been banned from Digg (yet). Articles from 1389 Blog can still be submitted to, and found on, Digg. Whether the stories have any chance to to reach the front page is another matter entirely.

What actually happens when a Digg user ID is banned?

In a nutshell, the user’s profile is blocked from access, but not deleted. Other users can no longer view the blocked user’s profile page. The banned user cannot log on to submit stories, make comments, or update the profile to change the email address or anything else. On the other hand, all existing stories and comments submitted by the blocked user remain available, unless the story or comment was specifically deleted by a Digg administrator. If another Digg user had befriended this user before he or she was blocked, the blocked Digg user will continue to appear in the other user’s list of friends, like this:

So here’s why 1389 keeps getting useless messages:

• Digg requires a valid email address from all new users, so, when signing up, 1389 provided an active email address that was, and still is, being used for correspondence.
• 1389 was very active on Digg for a time, submitted many stories, entered comments, got several stories to the front page, and was befriended by a considerable number of Digg users. Thus, 1389′s avatar still appears in many places – on each story that 1389 submitted or commented on, and on the profile pages of each user who befriended 1389 during that time.
• Digg made extensive changes at the beginning of October, 2007 to add new features, including the ability to send “Shouts” to other Digg users.
• Even though 1389′s account has been blocked, other users can still send a “Shout” to 1389. For instance, whenever a Digg user sends a group “Shout” to all of his or her friends, and 1389 happens to be on that user’s list of friends, a message will be generated for 1389 along with all of the others.
• Whenever anyone does this – and it happens every day – 1389′s email inbox receives another message containing a link to retrieve the “Shout” contents from Digg.
• Unfortunately, the shout retrieval link is associated with 1389′s blocked profile, so it will not work! What’s more, 1389 cannot even update the blocked profile to shut off this useless email!

More about Digg:

• These articles discuss censorship and other problems on Digg, as well as alternatives to Digg.
• Here’s what Foehammer has to say about Digg.
• The Fort Hard Knox team weighs in on Digg.
• Tex and Jenn’s research shows why Digg’s management is not on our side.

Posted to 1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech and Fort Hard Knox.

Updated 12/25/2007

Brent Csutoras: Diggers Not Shouting So Loud?

Digg has finally taken action to curtail the “shout spam” that was being spewed indiscriminately via Digg’s “Shout All” feature. Digg now limits the number of “Shout” messages to twenty at a time; more than that, and the user is told to slow down. This gives senders an incentive to pay attention to whom they are sending their messages, so as not to waste their “Shouts” on inactive Digg users.

Brent Csutoras: To Shout or Not To Shout: The Digg Dilemma

How the Shout feature can backfire – and how to use it properly.

Technorati : 1389, Digg, Web 2.0, censorship, social news, spam, tech tips
Del.icio.us : 1389, Digg, Web 2.0, censorship, social news, spam, tech tips
Ice Rocket : 1389, Digg, Web 2.0, censorship, social news, spam, tech tips

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That radio-controlled toy may not be what it seems!

1389 Blog recently ran an article, They’re talking about a how-to video that you will NOT find on this blog! about the infamous Goose Creek Pipe Bomb Boys. One of them, Ahmed Mohamed, had made a terrorist-training video showing how to use a radio-controlled toy boat to make a remote-controlled bomb. This article connected some dots to let you know what you need to look for to keep yourself, your family, and your community safe.

Recently, the folks at Global Incident Map posted a notice, USA Airport Security Alert for Toys with Remotes. In a nutshell, although radio-controlled toys are not prohibited on aircraft at this time, passengers carrying such toys will be subject to additional screening:

Citing ‘credible specific information’ about terror tactics, Transportation Security Administration officers nationwide on Monday stepped up their scrutiny of passengers carrying remote-control toys aboard airplanes…

• TuscaloosaNews.com – Airport Security Alert for Toys With Remotes
• The Coloradoan – Airport security steps up searches; this time aimed at children’s toys

Do you enjoy RC toys? Here’s what you need to know to stay safe!

Radio-controlled toys should be good, safe fun for both children and adults. While it is disgusting enough that anybody would set off bombs as an act of terrorism, it is truly sick to put a bomb into a toy.

According to the article in The Coloradoan, an innocent person’s remote controller could accidentally trigger a remote bomb planted by a terrorist.

Remote controls on toys and items such as garage-door openers transmit radio waves and can be converted to crude detonators, though sophisticated terrorists shun them, said aviation security consultant Rich Roth, a former Secret Service agent. Such a bomb could be detonated prematurely, thus defeating a terrorist’s plans, he said.

“The problem has always been that there are so many kids with toys out there that if some kid fires up a toy and sets off a (terrorist) bomb, that’s not good,” Roth said.

So here are the take-home lessons for EVERYONE:

• Do not turn on the remote controller for any of your own radio-controlled toys in a public place. This is especially important in and around airports, train stations, buses, and other transportation facilities. You don’t want to affect anything else that might be using the same frequency.
• If you notice anything that looks like a radio-controlled toy left unattended outdoors or in a public place – use caution. Radio-controlled toys are fairly expensive and people normally don’t abandon them. Ask around to see if anybody knows whose it is and how it got there. If there isn’t a good reason for it being there, consider it a suspicious object and call the local authorities to check it out. Don’t just absent-mindedly touch it or push it aside. Take care not to step on it or run over it with your vehicle!
• If you see something, say something! Keep your eyes open for any type of terrorist-training or jihadist-recruitment videos when you’re exploring YouTube or other Internet video hosting services. Notify the video hosting service and the appropriate authorities. See the Reference Material resource page on 1389 Blog for specific information about where to report suspicious activities.

More news about the Goose Creek pipe bomb boys:

• Tampa Tribune: Megahed Essays Praise US (taqiyya…)
• Gateway Pundit: Goose Creek Terror-Brother Filmed Sending Hand Signals! (Video)
• http://1389blog.com/2007/10/06/want-to-apprehend-the-producers-of-al-qaedas-videos/

  Hot Air tells it like it is!

  

  Here’s what our military and intelligence agencies – and you – should be on the lookout for:

  Hot Air: UPI “experts” analyze al Qaeda’s media arm

  UPI gets it all wrong about the number of people and the amount of equipment that would actually be needed to produce the videos coming out of al Qaeda’s as-Sahab Institute, as the terror network’s media arm calls itself. Obviously, they are thinking in terms of the resources that UPI would have used to make such videos!

  The truth? You’d be surprised how little money and how few staff it actually takes.

  An Internet video expert at Hot Air explains what it actually takes to make these “viral” Internet videos. He describes the type of al Qaeda operation that our military and intelligence agencies – and anyone else in a position to notice something suspicious – should be looking for.

  
  Technorati : al Qaeda, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis, jihadis, media, tech tips, video
  Del.icio.us : al Qaeda, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis, jihadis, media, tech tips, video
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  “What are social media, anyway?”

  For your surfing pleasure:

  Vaspers the Grate, a/k/a Steven Edward Streight, offers a quick guided tour of Web 2.0:

  How to Succeed in Social Networks

  
  Technorati : Digg, Facebook, Gleamd, LinkedIn, MySpace, Pownce, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Web 2.0, YouTube, blogging, networking, social media, tech tips
  Del.icio.us : Digg, Facebook, Gleamd, LinkedIn, MySpace, Pownce, StumbleUpon, Twitter, blogging, networking, social media, tech tips
  Ice Rocket : Digg, Facebook, Gleamd, LinkedIn, MySpace, Pownce, StumbleUpon, Twitter, blogging, networking, social media, tech tips

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  ]]> http://1389blog.com/2007/09/30/want-a-quick-guided-tour-of-web-20/feed/ 0 http://1389blog.com/2007/09/14/are-jihadists-visiting-your-blog/ http://1389blog.com/2007/09/14/are-jihadists-visiting-your-blog/#comments Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:14:01 +0000 1389 http://1389blog.com/2007/09/14/are-jihadists-visiting-your-blog/

  (For rolling updates, please scroll down)

  1389 Blog has been getting some strange visitors lately…

  

  This chart shows the search phrases that people entered yesterday to get to 1389 Blog.

  Here’s what happened: Someone entered the phrase “how to make remote pipe bombs” into Google or another search utility. 1389 Blog was included in the list of sites that came up, simply because we ran a news story about the Goose Creek “pipe bomb boys”. The person clicked on the link to get to 1389 Blog.

  For the record, there are NO instructions on this blog for making remote pipe bombs or any other WMDs. I wonder whether this particular visitor became frustrated and decided to get back at us by falsely reporting 1389 Blog as a “hate site.”

  In case you’re wondering, there is no hate speech on this blog. No trash talk. No incitement to violence. No mention of anything pertaining to racial issues. No ad hominem attacks. No bloody pictures. Comments are moderated, and we don’t even allow swear words. So if you’re looking for an excuse to ban this blog, you will find it only in your imagination.

  So how can you find out who is visiting YOUR blog?

  By running blog statistics and checking them regularly.

  Where do I get blog statistics?

  You’ll need to download a plugin, sign up for a web-based utility, or have your hosting provider set up a statistics utility if you want to gather statistics. Just for starters, try these. Follow the instructions at the websites:

  • If you have a WordPress blog, whether it’s at WordPress.com or independently hosted, you can use the WordPress.com blog stats plugin.
  • Anyone with a blog can sign up for Google Analytics.
  • The free version of StatCounter lets you pinpoint the actual IP address for the most recent 500 page views. If this isn’t enough, you can upgrade to a larger log file size for a monthly fee.

  How blog statistics can help you to improve your blog

  There are other good reasons to run blog statistics.

  For one thing, the only way you can build your audience is by trying different things on your blog, and then checking your statistics to see how readers react. You can see how many people are visiting, where they are coming from, which search phrases they used to get to your blog, which blog articles they are viewing, how long they are staying, what they are clicking, and so forth. If you don’t collect statistics, you’re just groping in the dark.

  ---

  More:

  Our enemies use many avenues – including our own blogs -
  to spread disinformation and propaganda. They also use many techniques to try to shut our blogs down entirely.

  Jihadist disinformation in blog comments and email

  • Malicious Commenter is Impersonating UK Anti-Jihadist Blogger Lionheart
  • E-Jihadist Impersonates Balkans Terrorism Expert, Posts Fake Messages

  Are e-jihadists attacking your blog?

  • Foehammer: Anvil Outage Caused by Islamist DDOS Attacks

  ---

  ]]> http://1389blog.com/2007/09/14/are-jihadists-visiting-your-blog/feed/ 4 http://1389blog.com/2007/08/21/why-bloggers-need-to-ping/ http://1389blog.com/2007/08/21/why-bloggers-need-to-ping/#comments Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:26:00 +0000 1389 http://1389blog.com/2007/08/20/why-bloggers-need-to-ping/

  “Ping? What are you talking about? Sonar? Golf clubs? A duck in a children’s book?“

  Guess again!

  In the world of the Internet, ping has two meanings:

  • For everyone, ping is a simple test to see whether your computer can connect to a host.
    • Story of Ping, written by its creator, Mike Muuss
    • Accessing ping from Windows XP: Click the Start button, click Run, enter cmd to get to a command window, and then enter ping host_url or ping ip_address.
    • Just Ping is an online web-based ping utility.
    • Example of how ping is used: A service tech enters ping yahoo.com in a command window. If the connection is up, it’ll come back with Yahoo‘s IP address and the time it took to get a response. If the ping fails, the service tech enters ping 216.109.112.135 (Yahoo’s IP address). If the second ping succeeds, there’s a problem connecting with the domain name system; if not, there is a problem connecting to Yahoo.
  • For bloggers, ping is a signal that you have changed something. You’ve updated something on your site. Now you need to tell the rest of the world that there’s something new for them to retrieve.

  The second meaning of ping is what you need to do whenever you blog.

  “But why? Don’t those search engine crawlers go out and get every blog on the planet?”

  Some search engines, such as Google, do work that way. Trouble is, they take their time getting to you. If you aren’t already on a link path from another site that they’ve been crawling just now, it may be awhile before they run across your site.

  • Use Google Webmasters Tools to monitor your site’s status with Google.
  • Google aficionados who are using a Google Sitemap file should remember to rebuild it regularly.

  Other search engines, aggregators, blog catalogs, and social websites are user driven. They rely on bloggers to send them a ping whenever there’s new blog content. That’s their cue to go fetch whatever new material is there and save or index it accordingly.

  “So how do I issue a ping?”

  You issue a ping by sending a message to a ping server that identifies your blog’s URL. The ping does not send any information about the updates you have made to your blog. Instead, the ping server tells the appropriate search engine(s) to go to your blog URL to retrieve that information.

  Some blogging systems or blog post editors can be set up to issue pings automatically. Alternatively, you can go to the ping server’s website through your browser. You’ll be presented with a simple form to fill out with your blog URL and sometimes also the blog’s name. The ping is issued when you click on the button to submit the form.

  Wikipedia’s Ping_blog article has a long list of ping servers that bloggers may want to use. This list may be somewhat overwhelming, and is not entirely up to date, so here’s a shorter list of sites that you will definitely want to consider using after you update your blog:

  • Technorati Ping Form
    If you are a serious blogger and your blog is not already on Technorati, you should sign up and claim your blog.
  • Blogrolling Weblog Update Form
    Your site may be included in one or more blogrolls that are supported by Blogrolling. If the blogroll is sorted by most recent update, this will move your blog to the top of the list.
  • Google Blog Search Ping Service
    Repeat every time you update your blog.
  • blo.gs Ping Form (Yahoo)
    Select Blogs tab, then select the Ping Weblogs.com icon.
  • IceRocket
  • FeedBurner (if you issue your blog’s feed through FeedBurner)
  • Weblogs.com Ping Server (Verisign)
  • Blog Flux Pinger (bulk ping utility), login required)
  • Ping-O-Matic! (bulk ping utility)
  • Pingoat (bulk ping utility, stein hoist to Tom)
  • Google Blog Search Ping Service

  Also see:

  • Blog Troubleshooting: “Uh oh! My blog won’t display!”
  • Twitter 101

  Subscribe to 1389 Blog!

  
  Technorati : Internet, Technorati, Web 2.0, blogging, feeds, ping, search, search engine, social media, tech tips, troubleshooting
  Del.icio.us : Internet, Technorati, Web 2.0, blogging, feeds, ping, search, search engine, social media, tech tips, troubleshooting
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