| Friday, November
30, 2001
And from Roland on that virus and secret email:
From message <E9BBE0941932D511934C0002A52CDB4E0127F6B2
> >Greetings all
> >I know this might have been brought up before so please
disregard if
> so. Thought it might be of interest to some.
> > While looking for ways to indicate that nimda/codered ect was
>pushed to a client within my network, I tripped across something
>completely unrelated, but interesting. > >It seems these email
clients that utilize html formating also >send out information
unknowingly. I know nothing new, but heres >the senario. A spam email
arrives, client opens/previews the email >and its pretty gifs/jpgs ect,
while at the bottom a link is retrieving >what looks like a logo.
Example: > ><a href="http://www.em5000.com"><img
>src="http://www.em5000.com/counter.php?client=newhorizons&email=myemail@addy
>.com&msgid=281101000" width="109"
height="16" border="0"
>alt="em5000.com"></a>
> >What it does in fact is send information to a host >(from
the firewall's view): >> 12:54:01: %PIX-5-304001: 10.1.1.10 Accessed
URL
>>
66.77.58.92:/counter.php?client=newhorizons&email=myemail@domain.com&msgid
>> =281101000 >> >(from the host's view): >
GET /counter.php?client=newhorizons&email=myemail@domain.com&msgid=281101000
>HTTP/1.1 > >which in turn (I suppose) places my email
address into a database thats used > >for spaming. i.e. verifying
that my email address is valid. While watching >for this behavior, I
saw about 10 other nodes/users do this, none of which >knew the
information had been sent out. Kind of sneaky if you ask me. <<
Yup -- that's why I turn off images on those rare occasions that I
bother to read html email.
Sorry for the messy formatting: this was a series
of messages forwarded and I have taken the identifications off. The point
is that you see what is happening.
The solution is to turn imaging off when you read
email messages, even in the preview window, unless you have a good virus
stripper.
Note that this poses a dilemma: how do you send
images to someone? Particularly to ME.
The only reliable way I know is (1) be someone I
know, (2) send a message saying that another message with attachment
follows, (3) be prepared to reply to an answer to that first message, (4)
send the message with attached image from same place and with same return
address as first message.
Eric has said for years that until some spammers
go to prison or otherwise experience public physical pain nothing will be
done about spam. It's getting worse and they're getting more
sophisticated.
And
Dan said:
"I hope this new virus hasn't added an unknown
keyboard logger to our pc's, or sent ip's or address book's off to who
knows where. If I find that's the case, much of my ire will be directed
towards Microsoft."
But of course, wouldn't you know, there is a
keyboard logger in the payload for this version of badtrans: from http://www.incidents.org/diary/diary.php?id=870
The virus drops a keystroke logging trojan (KDLL.DLL) in the WINDOWS
SYSTEM directory, F-Secure states that keystrokes are logged to a file in
the same directory called "CP_25389.NLS". F-Secure also mentions
that the trojan file has a user-configurable filename and registry
key."
You probably already knew this, sorry for the spam.
Todd Zervas tazervas@earthlink.net
More things to worry about. Thanks
From Joel Rosenberg:
You write:
The big problem with the war is what do we do with
the non-Afghan Taliban fighters when they surrender?
I think this is an easy one, m'self:
"Naturally, the official US position is that the foreign nationals
who have fought on behalf of the Taliban regime will be dealt with by
local authorities according to local law. Questions about what that local
law is should probably be directed to the Northern Alliance's
spokesman."
Unofficially, but implicitly: let the NA folks shoot
them.
Personally, I don't see any moral difference
between, say, slaughtering and butchering one's own meat and having
somebody else do it for you. (In fact, many years ago, I let my college
roommate talk me into helping him slaughter a cow -- he was an aggie of a
philosophical bent, and suggested that there was some hypocrisy involved
in eating meat and never having actually dealt with the whole process. . .
)
But there is an administrative difference, and a
political one.
On Mandrake
-------------------------- No more new stuff on
Mandrake and StarOffice, at the moment, which is all to the good: it's
just working, and so am I. The next issue will probably come when IBM
delivers my copy of ViaVoice for Linux. I've heard good things about it,
and I very much like to be able to dictate by voice as a break from /
alternative to keyboarding, so we'll see . . .
On keyboards . . . I do have carpal tunnel syndrome,
mostly under control these days, and the Microsoft Natural Keyboard, with
the front edge raised, works fine for me, although I hate the mushiness of
the keys. If you know of any similarly shaped keyboard with anything
resembling the nice, crisp feel of the Northgate, I'd love to hear about
it.
-- ------------------------------------- There's a
widow in sleepy Chester Who weeps for her only son; There's a grave on the
Pabeng River, A grave that the Burmans shun, And there's Subadar Prag
Tewarri Who tells how the work was done.
-------------------------------------
I am about to try the Mandrake (or other Linux)
with Star Office system. I suspect that given the myriad things I do it
won't be good enough yet, and I'll have to stay with Windows 2000/Office
2000 but we will see. If you can get all your work done with it,
that's a fair number of readers. I note that your family still wants
Windows...
On what to do with the Taliban:
Hi,
Definitely bad form to execute them on the spot. But
as Taliban, should they be treated any differently as Afghan Taliban ? And
what (pardon my ignorance of this, please) is happening to Afghan Taliban
who are not killed in cross-fire as part of the fighting which has gone on
? If they surrender, I thought I heard we were just letting them go ???
And if we are, what's to stop them from re-forming the Taliban as soon as
we leave, and starting the whole mess over again ? Are we to forever
occupy their territory to 'make them play nice with others' ? Talk about
being an EMPIRE !!! Sheesh, I hope that is not our goal - "USA -
BABY-SITTERS TO THE WORLD". I thought we had things to take care of
in OUR country - like achieving energy-independence, so we don't have to
care about politics in the Middle East, for our own oil-interests (not to
say THIS war is directly about oil, though indirectly it is...).
Larry O'Neal Rochester, MN
The reason you treat the overseas Taliban
differently from the Afghan is (1) the Afghans will; they will forgive
their cousins but not invaders, and (2) the precedent was the Cuban
mercenaries in Africa (and for that matter a few American mercenaries
involved in African civil wars): in all cases foreign fighters were
treated differently from resident/citizens in those civil wars.
Dr. Pournelle,
Aren't non-military combatants considered spies and
as such given only marginal protection under internationally recognized
"laws of war"? It seems like any third-party participants
without formal organization do not fall under the normal conventions, and
either the laws of the people they're shooting at, or the laws of the
country they're invading should apply, depending on who captures them.
They're either illegal combatants or criminals and neither status is
protected by the conventions.
I suggest tossing the lot of them into an Afghan
jail and let them await trial by the new government. Maybe they can be put
to work rebuilding Afghanistan's national infrastructure. We can divert
those new ration packets to the jail since we can now distribute real food
in quantity to people who didn't try to shoot at us. The lot of them
wanted a fight and NOT A SINGLE ONE of them can be considered innocent, so
let them reap what they've sown.
Sean Long
From JoAnne Dow
The B-52 is 50 years old today.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,39681,00.html
"It was 50 years ago - Nov. 29, 1951 - that the
first prototype of the B-52 bomber emerged from Boeing's south Seattle
plant, under cover of night and a huge tarp."
That is one grand old lady the Air Force has. Her
nickname includes the word "ugly". IMHO seeing her from here she
is beautiful. Enemies may have different mileage there.
{^_-}
Happy birthday indeed, to the BUFF
Now a serious warning from Paul Walker. He sent
previous messages and I asked for clarification:
Certainly.
Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) is a common ingredient in
many cold medicines. The FDA has issued a warning that:. " This study
reports that taking PPA increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding
into the brain or into tissue surrounding the brain) in women. Men may
also be at risk. Although the risk of hemorrhagic stroke is very low, FDA
recommends that consumers not use any products that contain PPA. "
The short of it is, that the PPA increases (slightly) the chance of having
a stroke which would generally ruin one's day.
I have attached the report (copied from the web
site, word document) that gives the summary for this with interest in the
statistics.
No reason to panic, just be concerned. The FDA
warning was a year ago in November 2000. I had not heard about it until
today.
More information on PPA can be found at http://www.ppanews.com/what_is_ppa.html
Its primary use is as a nasal decongestant. It is a
drug that appears to belong to the amphetamine family (commonly called
"speed") and is also used as a diet suppressant. ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/phenylpropanolaminesystemic202462.html
)
Based on this, I would recommend that people pay
attention to the ingredients in their over-the-counter cold medicines.
Hopefully this is a little shorter and with the more
relevant information pointed out.
- Paul -----Original Message----- From: Jerry
Pournelle [mailto:jerryp@jerrypournelle.com] Sent: Friday, November 30,
2001 01:21 To: pdwalker@quagmyre.com Subject: RE: FW: Fw: FW: WARNING -
DRUG RECALL
Can you translate? This seems very
long and while probably important I seem not able to understand [[to skip
the rest click here.]]
-----Original Message----- From: Paul D. Walker [mailto:pdwalker@quagmyre.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 8:51 AM To: Jerry Pournelle (E-mail)
Subject:FW: Fw: FW: WARNING - DRUG RECALL
Hi Jerry,
The www.fda.gov site mentioned and url appears to be
legitimate.
- Paul
-----Original Message----- From: Liam P. Walker [mailto:liamw@rogers.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 22:41 To: liamw@rogers.com Subject: Fw:
Fw: FW: WARNING - DRUG RECALL
I don't normally forward email stuff around but
considering the source (the links within the forwarded email to the US
FDA) I thought it important in this case.
----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Mischook
To: Stefan Mischook Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 9:20 AM Subject:
Fwd: Fw: FW: WARNING - DRUG RECALL
Thought I would reach out as this seemed legit and
perhaps even non-trivial. I'll leave it to each of you to evaluate its
importance. I'm not really a cough-syrup junky so my qualité-de-vie
should not suffer. But perhaps those of you living in microbe-rich
environments (i.e. famillies with small children) may wish to take heed.
Cheers!
Richard
All,
Looks like most of the common cold remedies are on
this list. I guess it gets back to the cure is worse than what ails you.
ATW! CSM
-----Original Message----- From: Perez, Dale SFC
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 6:54 AM To: Anthony Archer; Robert Guest;
Ronald Bryan; Tedson Campagna; AR Papillo; Bennie Wells; Bernard Westover;
Charles Willis; Christino Nunez; Christopher Raines; Daniel Neal; Dann
Ridgeway; Dennis McLean; Donald Bruck; James Anderson; Jeffrey Crowe; Jose
Salas; Kenneth Fisher; Louis Smith; Lyle Watkins; Marion White; Michael
Brazell; Randall Williams; Raymond Thompson; Ronald Hile; Tonya Griffin
Subject: WARNING - DRUG RECALL
-----Original Message----- From: Minney, Patrick MSG
[mailto:patrick.minney@monroe.army.mil]
This is not a chain e-mail, it has been verified.
This is of interest to our soldiers.
This is not a hoax. We have this stuff in our house
and are removing it.Check the list carefully. Repeat, this is not a hoax.
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/ppa/default.htm
The below list contains drugs that have been taken
off the market until further notice. Please read the e-mail forwarded by
the U.S.Army. V/r HMC
Robert Sutton, AAA9A Chief, Army MARS
All drugs containing Phenylpropanolamine are being
recalled. You may want to try calling the 800 number listed on most drug
boxes and inquire about a REFUND. Please read this CAREFULLY, as I know
that some of you may USE some of these drugs (Alka Seltzer Plus for one).
Also, please pass this on to everyone you know. STOP
TAKING anything containing this ingredient. It has been linked to
increased hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in brain) among women ages 18-49 in
the three days after starting use of medication. Problems were not found
in men, but the FDA recommended that everyone (even children) seek
alternative medicine.
The following medications contain
Phenylpropanolamine: Acutrim Diet Gum Appetite Suppressant Plus Dietary
Supplements Acutrim Maximum Strength Appetite Control Alka-Seltzer Plus
Children's Cold Medicine Effervescent Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold medicine
(cherry or orange) Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine Original Alka-Seltzer
Plus Cold & Cough Medicine Effervescent Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold &
Flu Medicine Effervescent Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Sinus Effervescent
Alka Seltzer Plus Night-Ti! me Cold Medicine Effervescent BC Allergy Sinus
Cold Powder BC Sinus Cold Powder Comtrex Deep Chest Cold & Congestion
Relief Comtrex Flu Therapy & Fever Relief Day & Night Contac
12-Hour Cold Capsules Contac 12 Hour Caplets Coricidin D Cold, Flu &
Sinus Dexatrim Caffeine Free Dexatrim Extended Duration Dexatrim Gelcaps
Dexatrim Vitamin C/Caffeine Free Dimetapp Cold & Allergy Chewable
Tablets Dimetapp Cold & Cough Liqui-Gels Dimetapp DM Cold & Cough
Elixir Dimetapp Elixir Dimetapp 4 Hour Liquid Gels Dimetapp 4 Hour Tablets
Dimetapp 12 Hour Extentabs Tablets Naldecon DX Pediatric Drops Permathene
Mega-16 Robitussin CF Tavist-D 12 Hour Relief of Sinus & Nasal
Congestion Triaminic DM Cough Relief Triaminic Expectorant Chest &
Head Congestion Triaminic Syrup Cold & Allergy Triaminic Triaminicol
Cold & Cough
I just found out and called the 800# on the
container for Triaminic and they informed me that they are voluntarily
recalling the following medicines because of a certain ingredient that is
causing strokes and seizures in children: Orange 3D Cold & Allergy
Cherry (Pink) 3D Cold & Cough Berry 3D Cough Relief Yellow 3D
Expectorant
They are asking you to call them at 800-548-3708
with the lot number on the box so they can send you postage for you to
send it back to them, and they will also issue you a refund. If you know
of anyone else with small children, PLEASE PASS THIS ON. THIS IS SERIOUS
STUFF. DO PASS ALONG TO ALL ON YOUR MAILING LIST so people are informed.
They can then pass it along to their families. To confirm these findings
please take time to check the following URL:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/ppa/default.htm
This Email distributed by: Army Telecommunications
Directorate Fort Huachuca, Arizona
SFC Dale J. Perez Equal Opportunity Advisor 82d
Airborne Division Fort Bragg, NC Civ: (910) 432-0663/8250 DSN: 239
On the other hand:
Jerry,
This is all smoke and no fire as far as I can tell.
Guess it depends on your sources, but fear-mongering and alarmism costs
consumers in both money and effective products. The old Alka-Seltzer Plus
worked for me a heck of a lot better and was less expensive to boot! Is
government regulating really all its cracked up to be?
Quote from: http://www.junkscience.com/foxnews/fn111000.htm
It’s difficult to believe that PPA is causing
stroke considering the flimsy evidence gleaned from billions and billions
of uses of PPA-containing products over the last 50 years.
Even accepting the study’s results at face value,
the FDA’s alarmism still falls short of justifiable. The researchers
estimate one woman may have a stroke due to PPA for every 107,000 to
3,268,000 women who use PPA-containing appetite suppressants. This level
of risk is so small that it’s essentially immeasurable in the real
world. If this slight risk concerned a toxic waste dump, no clean-up
action would be required under Environmental Protection Agency policy,
which tends to be far more proactive on minute risks than FDA policy.
******************** "They that give up
essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither
liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759.
And I sure took a lot of Alka-Seltzer Plus
without problems. Thanks/
Back to Computers:
One of your readers wrote:
"My most annoying example is the relentless
determination of IE to place all my pictures in the "My
Pictures" folder on the C: drive. I reserve C: for OS material only
and prefer to place image files on the data drive, E:. There appears to be
no way to change IE's default."
Under Win2k at least, right-click My Documents
folder, choose Properties and click the Move button or type a new target
location in the Address box. I don't have the time to check other MS OSs
right now. Typing in the location of the data partition is the first thing
I do after a fresh install, using the Move button is what I do on clients'
machines because whoever installed the OS accepted MS defaults. Yes, MS
defaults suck, but there's no reason to accept them and they nearly always
provide alternatives.
Jonathan Sturm www.sturmsoft.com
Thanks
Dr. Pournelle,
Paul J. Camp writes; "My most annoying example
is the relentless determination of IE to place all my pictures in the
"My Pictures" folder on the C: drive. I reserve C: for OS
material only and prefer to place image files on the data drive, E:. There
appears to be no way to change IE's default."
There is a program called X-Setup, produced by Xteq
Systems, that will let you change this, and many other settings in
Windows/IE. It is available here, and is, I believe, free for personal
home use.
Robert Cooper
Thanks
Jerry, Today at our local post office I was chatting
with one of the clerks, who happens to be a fan. He mentioned in passing
that the USPS has "until April" to operate. I looked at him
funny. "No, it's true," he said. "We're losing money like
you wouldn't believe." I didn't believe it, and said so. He explained
that one of the reasons mail is so late it that the post office is no
longer allowed to fly any mail on commercial airlines. So the post office
is paying thru the nose to transport mail via any land route they can.
Also, the postal workers have been burdened with so many security measures
that frequently during sorting everything has to stop while the building
is evacuated as a hazmat team is called in. "Just last night we had
to evacuate three times while the sheriff came over to examine suspicious
packages," he explained.
While caution is good, this strikes me as EXCESSIVE.
Winning the war against terrorism overseas is useless if we put up with
this kind of timidity at home. Aleta
Indeed. I haven't time to make the comments I
should here, but in fact it is obvious. We are destroying the airlines,
the travel industry, the mail, and nearly everything we hold dear in
response to less than a month's traffic deaths -- probably by means no
longer repeatable even under the security provisions we had in place
September 10 -- and an hour's worth of traffic deaths by anthrax.
A good return on investment.
A republic has citizens who accept some personal
responsibility and with it some risks. An empire has subjects who expect
"the government" to take care of them.
The conclusion is obvious.
"Poor man, he would not be a wolf but that
the Romans are but sheep."
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