Google: "Let me help you with your running regime!"

Now that I am going to take my reservist IPPT in a month’s time, I am starting to see the need to go running regularly. As I put on my running gear for the first time after god knows how long last week, the ignorance of distance I would be covering came to me as a concern. Without knowing the distance I would be covering between 2 points, I would not be able to accurately gauge my improvements of subsequent trainings.

The first possible solution that came to my mind was to ask a friend who is a professional marathon runner, hoping that he would happen to know the distance between the 2 points that I plan to run.

So I called him up.

“Hey come on dude, how the hell would I know?! You can check it yourself at Google distance calculator though.” was his reply.

I have to admit that I am a mountain turtle when it comes to the virtual technologies. I didn’t know that there was such a thing before that day. But it is never too late to learn I guess.

From then on, I never have a problem in gauging the distance between any 2 points that I plan to carry out my trainings.

Have you guys ever been too ambitious and underestimated the distance between 2 points? The moment you started your run, you realized that it was a huge mistake. You ended up taking a bus home.

I had.

But with Google distance calculator, I can now gauge beforehand whether the distance between a certain 2 points is too far for me to conquer at my current fitness. How awesome is that!

Of course, this is definitely not the sole purpose of Google distance calculator. You can even find out the distance between 2 different cities if you are planning to go on a road trip or a backpacking trip!

I shall not speak too much about it and let you guys explore it on your own. Let me end off by showing you guys a screenshot of an example of my running plan, and of course, provide you guys with the link!

Diseases in the virtual world

We all know that if one practices unprotected sex, he/she may suffer the risk of contracting a disease or virus. That disease may sometimes be fatal, and most of the times extremely difficult to be cured and removed totally from one’s body. However, this does not only happen in the real world!

Watching and downloading sexual content from the Internet to your “unprotected” computer would risk it from contracting diseases from the virtual world too. And similarly, such “diseases”, once contracted, can be extremely difficult to get rid of from your computer as well.

Here’s a video to show you how such viruses can even auto-generate and multiply!

Just like condoms were invented in the real world, anti-virus software act as contraceptives to your computer in the virtual world too. But just like condoms in the real world, again, these software can never provide a 100% protection to your computer against viruses as well.

Now, this question that many of us have always been asking pops out once again!

Why do People Create Computer Viruses then?

Well, there are basically a few main reasons viruses are created.

1) To take control of a computer and use it for specific tasks

2) To generate money

3) To steal sensitive information (credit card numbers, passwords, personal details, data etc.)

4) To prove a point, to prove it can be done, to prove one’s skill or for revenge purposes

5) To cripple a computer or network

It will take forever for me too explain all of these reasons. Hence, I am just going to give a brief explanation of 1) and 3), the more relevant reasons for viruses to be found on pornographic websites.

It is indeed smart of the creators to create these viruses on pornographic websites. They tackle the human’s lustful nature to make sure that a large number of people, or rather computers would become the victim of their viruses, and eventually end up as slaves to their purposes.

To take control of a computer and use it for specific tasks

• This sort of viruses is known as the Trojans and they are one of the most commonly seen around.

• Once being infected, the particular computer becomes a slave to a “master” computer (the virus creator) and may become a scapegoat to perform certain tasks to another rival website so that the “master” computer can remain anonymous.

• The “master” computer can command each of these infected computers to send tiny bits of information to a web server and due to the very fact that there are thousands of computers doing this at the same time, it often overloads the server.

Subsequently in this case, it may very well be part of an extortion plan to another infamous pornographic website. “Send me $5000 or your website will be offline over a period of 6 months”.

To steal sensitive information

Well, this probably does not need much explanation from me.

It is basically viruses created to detect the traffic going in or out of a computer for interesting or precious information such as passwords or credit card numbers and send it back to the virus creator.

These are basically 2 of the many reasons why viruses are created. If you people are interested in the rest of the reasons, you can go get some...virus!!!

Nah I am just kidding, you can go ahead and click on it! I am serious. (;

Of course, having said all these, there’s just one last similarity that I have spotted between the real world and the virtual world in this particular realm.

Prevention is always better than cure. (:

Congratulations, victim.

“Congratulations Mr Chik!

We are very happy to announce that you are one of the 6 grand-prize winners of our annual lottery draw!

To retrieve your cheque of 850000.00 Pounds, simply reply to the above email to acknowledge!

We look forward to presenting this magnificent reward to you, our valued participant of the draw.

Once again, congratulations to you!”





















Does this look rather familiar to any of you?

I was extremely excited when I saw this email that I have received about 1 year ago, and immediately went on to reply to it!

“Oh my God! I thought you are smarter than that Chik!”

“What the heck Chik! Haven’t you heard of the saying that there’s no free lunch? You are so dumb!!”

Yes, yes, I see that coming, people.

But come on! Do you really think that I did not know that such emails are scams?















Is that what you think?

It doesn’t matter what you think! Because I know what I am doing!

Before any of you start to mock at me for being too darn naïve to fall for a scam like this, allow me to continue with this story. (:

But for those of you who are lost, this is probably the best link I have for you.

http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/lotteries.php

Well basically, I replied to that email solely for experimentation. We have all heard of stories about how countless “winners” have been scammed by such organizations. Hence, I decided to proceed to experience myself (with caution of course!) to see how this entire system works, and possibly spot some loopholes.

To my surprise, I got an enthusiastic reply almost immediately from them requesting for me fill in certain particulars of myself so that they can verify that I am the true winner, or rather victim. I must say, honestly, that they seemed truly experienced and professional in handling the operation till now. They even stated that I have to reply within 2 working days or else the prize may be forfeited. This tactic would probably urge those skeptical “winners” to decide fast and reply to their email quickly, just in case that they may get busy and forget about it.

Finally, after all the verification work to be done by me, they sent me a final email confirming, and at the same time congratulating me that I am truly their long awaited and anticipated prey. At the same time, they gave me a description of how the parcel will be like just in case of the fact that I am not able to receive it. They even informed me in the email that I would be receiving a call from their company in UK for a final verification.

Now now now, the trap can finally be seen! In that email, they gave me 3 choices of how I want the parcel containing $850000 to be shipped to me.

Option 1: COURIER AIR EXPRESS ( 24 Hours )
£530.95 Pounds ( Equivalent to $1,050 US Dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Option 2: COURIER AIR EXPRESS (2 working days)
£500.95 Pounds ( Equivalent to $992 US Dollars!!!!!!!!)

Option 3 POST OFFICE MAIL (3 working days)
£470.95 Pounds ( Equivalent to $932 US Dollars!!!!!!)

Well, these figures may seem astronomical, but there are really still people around who are ignorant enough to think that such shipping prices are nothing compared to the huge prize money they will be receiving later on. Not. (:

Yes this is the whole point. In my case, they basically aim to tackle my greed and trick me into paying that shipping fee as I anticipate the arrival of the big prize, which will never ever come.

Did I mention that they really did call me? Apparently, this British guy really did so to congratulate me, and of course not forgetting to tell me to make my choice of shipment type fast. He sounded really sincere and willing. (Who wouldn’t if he is trying to get money from you?)

And of course, I took this opportunity to have some fun! :D

Me: “Can you transfer my prize money to my bank account?”

Him: “Oh there’s actually the prize money, as well as other fabulous gifts and vouchers as well. That’s why we need to ship it over in a parcel form for you, sir.”

Me: “Oh I see. Hmm how about that? Forget the gifts and vouchers. I know it’s my loss, but no worries. Just transfer to me the money?”

Him: “Ok sir, we hope that you can understand, but it’s our policy that when we give, we give our best. We want our winners to receive the best. Trust me, Mr Chik, you won’t regret it.” (I’ve got to admit that it’s quite a good answer.)

Me: “Oh wow. Ok in that case, I shall go and select my choice right now and reply to the email. Thank you very much.”
Him: “You are most welcome Mr Chik. Once again, I just want to say congratulations to you.”

Me: “Oh no wait. On another thought, I don’t think I deserve the prize…”

Him: “No, you do Mr Chik…”

Me: “No, I have made up my mind, please donate my prize to the UK National Kidney Federation instead. The patients deserve it more.”

Him (Sounding surprisingly disappointed and worried): “Mr Chik, look…”

Me: “Thank you very much. Goodbye.”

My views on Path

Have you guys heard about Path? It’s a personal networking site. Well, those of you in COM 125 class would probably have heard of it!



Being only able to have up to 50 friends as a user, it is indeed an “anti-social” networking site! For people who are not yet aware of Path, you might be thinking that such a site would probably be created by a group of people who are anti-Facebook or something. But no! Path was actually created by Dave Morin, one of Facebook’s early architects. He was the one who helped to build Facebook Connect and the Facebook Platform, but left the company early last year to start his own venture – Path.

Basically, Path is created to allow exclusivity to the close ones of everybody. Since only a maximum of 50 friends is allowed per user, only people who are truly close enough are entitled to fall under his/her friend list in Path. This way, users would be able to openly share photos without being afraid that there would be “people out there” seeing and judging them. Path’s intentions were to allow its users to be themselves and share their lives with their loved ones.

However, I personally do foresee a couple of problems with this personal networking site.

Firstly, just imagine yourself to be a subscriber of Path. One fine day you realized that an old friend of yours had just deleted you from his/ her friends list in Path. How would you feel? You may still see him/her as a close buddy, but it really seem that he/she has got better friends at that point of time. Moreover, it is easy to realize that someone has deleted you. (You only have a maximum of 50 friends.) In such cases, Path amplifies the sad truth, and digs it in.

Everyone has probably faced situations whereby someone whom you deem merely as an acquaintance thinks of you as his best friend. Being the nice person as you are, you just let him be and do not want to declare what you think of him straight in his face. Such cases would very possibly lead to the second point I am going to make about the Path.

Imagine the situation when such a person requests to be in your friends list in Path. As much as you don’t want to hurt his feelings and ego, you already have 47 friends out of the maximum of 50 and you would really want to leave the 3 slots for people who are truly worthy.

How would you want to reject him then?

“Sorry, but I only have 3 slots left and I really do have 3 other very close friends whom I think should take those slots.”

Or

“Oh you are a step too late! 3 friends just asked me before you! Sorry.”

Seriously??
Well, no matter what you say in the example above, it can be bluntly interpreted as “Sorry to tell you, but you are not within by top 50.”

Boohoo, and he walks away. You have just successfully hurt someone’s ego.

Now do you see the fact that Path may really put you in extremely difficult positions?

Last but not least, think again about what Facebook can do for you when it comes to exclusivity. Do you vaguely remember that on the top right hand corner there’s a “account” button, where you can change your settings from who can see your friends list to who can see certain albums of yours.

And oh yes! There’s an option called “custom”.