Sunday, January 31, 2010

Tanghetto Blue Monday


Tanghetto - Blue monday

Tanghetto | MySpace Music Videos


Some of the best from Argentina.

New Tequilajazzz video: Америки



Something relatively new from one of my favorite Russian bands.

Virus Predictions From Kaspersky


Kaspersky, the Russian security software source, has issued its 2010 predictions which follow from iTWire:


"Kaspersky has released its "2010 Cyberthreat Forecast," making six predictions about the nature of the security landscape next year.

First, Kaspersky predicts "a rise in attacks originating from file sharing networks" accompanied by a shift away from attacks via websites and applications.

Second, the company sees "an increase in mass malware epidemics via P2P networks." The forecast points to the way TDSS and Virut took that attack route in 2009 and expects that vector to be exploited even more.

Third is the growth of semi-legal and gray-market programs set up by botnet owners. "These so-called 'partner programs,'" reads the report, "enable botnet owners to make a profit from activities such as sending spam, performing denial of service (DoS) attacks or distributing malware without committing an explicit crime." The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation recently warned against fraudulent "work at home" offers that are in reality money laundering schemes.

Kaspersky's fourth prediction is a decline in fake anti-virus programs, such as the Conficker worm. "The fake anti-virus market has now been saturated and the profits for cybercriminals have fallen," says the report, and such activity is now closely monitored.

Fifth, the company sees attempts to use Google Wave as an attack vector, starting with spam and proceeding through phishing and spreading malward.

And sixth, the company forecasts "an increase in attacks on iPhone and Android mobile platforms." Android is especially vulnerable, the report says: "The increasing popularity of mobile phones running the Android OS combined with a lack of effective checks to ensure third-party software applications are secure, will lead to a number of high-profile malware outbreaks."

In an accompanying statement, Kaspersky Senior Malware Researcher Roel Schouwenberg also pointed to exploits of third-party vulnerabilities, particularly aimed at Adobe products, and "black hat SEO" as up-and-coming threats."

After 15 years of PC purgatory I made the Mac transition. Better late than never.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Air America is Dead



"What one cannot speak of, one must pass over in silence." Ludwig Wittgenstein

More K.O.T.



Комитет Охраны Тепла is an early Russian reggae band which has some really great material which is obvious on this video of "Africa".

World Sunshine Map

I've installed the Google World Sunshine Map to allow those who are living in windowless rooms and my blind readers to determine whether or not it's dark outside.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Tractor Bowling "Time"



After the last post its time for some Russian Goth from Tractor Bowling.

A Few Bad Days



By any reasonable standards today topped off what can only be described as a few bad days in America. While the loss of a Democratic senate seat in Massachusetts was disturbing, the Supreme Court's decision to put democracy up for sale is mind boggling to put it mildly.The pretense of representative democracy in the U.S. has been put to rest for the foreseeable future. The American political scene is now a landscape of intellectual and ethical ruins. A Palinesque presidency is within the reach of anyone who can fund it. It has become, as J.M. Roberts once described secret societies,"politics informed by nonsense". And funded by obscene amounts of corporate money.

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Temperance Time in Russia - Na zadrovye



An interesting video from Al Jazeera. It will be interesting to see if the Russian government's quest for sobriety is any greater then the quest for revenue that alcohol provides. Temperance crusades in Russia have met with limited enthusiasm to put it mildly and usually result in increases in mortality due to the use of alternative homemade "samagon".

Friday, January 01, 2010

Russian Bi-Polar Disorder



Dmitri Medvedev describes a desirable future.And then there is this latest news:

MOSCOW - Police detained dozens of people at an anti-Kremlin protest yesterday, including 82-year-old Lyudmila Alexeyeva, one of Russia’s most respected rights activists.Alexeyeva was among those seen being pushed into five buses as police broke up the protest on a central Moscow square.

Her detention drew criticism from rights groups and the head of the presidential human rights council, Ella Pamfilova, who said that she was working to get all the protesters released.

Reached late in the evening by cellphone, Alexeyeva said she was in the office of the Moscow police chief, who had promised to release all of the protesters. She was free but said she would not leave until the others were released.

She had arrived at the New Year’s Eve protest dressed as the Snow Maiden, the companion of Grandfather Frost. Police had forbidden the protest on the grounds that it would interfere with New Year’s festivities.

Small groups of protesters yesterday shouted “Freedom’’ or “End Putin’s Reign’’ before being detained or shoved away from the square.

Since coming to power 10 years ago, Vladimir Putin has rolled back many of the democratic achievements of the 1990s.

The protest was a repeat of actions held on the 31st of July, August, and October. The timing is a nod to the 31st Article of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly.

City authorities banned all the protests and sent police to break them up. But this is the first time police have detained Alexeyeva, a leading Soviet dissident who has continued to lead the fight for democracy and human rights in Russia. She was among this year’s recipients of the European Union’s top human rights award.

Opposition leader Eduard Limonov was detained as he approached the square, as he has been ahead of previous protests, according to activists. He spent 10 days in jail in November on charges of organizing the Oct. 31 protest and resisting arrest.

Yesterday’s protest ended an hour after it started when 40 helmeted riot police joined the hundreds of city police in clearing the square.

“They’re breaking the law by doing this,’’ said Viktor Shenderovich, a political satirist and opposition activist. “They are violating our constitutional right to assembly.’’