Feed them death

alternateorg on May 28, 2004

From “Let Them Eat War” on Bad Religion’s new album, The Enemy Strikes First”:

…

from the force to the union shops

the war economy is making new jobs

but the people who benefit most

are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts

you never stole from the rich to give to the poor

all they ever gave to them was a war

and a foreign enemy to deplore

…

we’ve got to kill ’em in the end

before they reach for their checks

squeeze some blue collars

let them bleed from their necks

seize a few dollars from the people who sweat

cause it’s freedom or death and they won’t question it

Randomata

alternateorg on May 21, 2004

Some interesting things:

This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and I can’t wait until John Gruber responds, although it’s so cliché that he probably won’t.

Preview of the new mature-style Zelda game due out next year.

Totally boss Gran Turismo 4 video

Not related to cool video or Macs: 5 of the 6 latest comp presentations here at Spiremedia have resulted in the client picking my design, including local furniture store The Furniture Room (which is cooler than it sounds, and that links to the current site, which obviously, is not my design). So yay for me.

Actual OSX Hole

alternateorg on May 19, 2004

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, there’s a real, actual, MacOS X vulnerability in the news. And this time it ain’t no proof-of-concept. A rundown of the issue:

  1. Safari allows you to automagically download and open/run/execute files that Safari considers “safe.” These include PDFs, Disc-Images (.dmg files), Stuffit files, etc.
  2. The Apple Help viewer application is scriptable via AppleScript.
  3. There’s a nifty protocol built into MacOS X named “help:” that allows apps or websites to open specific help files when needed.
  4. AppleScripts can execute shell scripts (but Help’s URL scriptability is limited to commands without spaces – not sure if URL-encoded spaces work in place, my guess is not)
  5. Since Help allows scripts residing on your hard drive to be run via a specific URL handler (god knows why), a website can automatically run a shell script or other malicious AppleScript via Safari’s cozy relationship with Help using a “help:runscript=Path/To/An/AppleScript.scpt%20string=’Bad-Shit-Goes-Here” href or JavaScript auto-relocate.
  6. Since Safari can auto-mount disc-images, a website could have you download a DMG that contains a malicious script, auto-mount it, send you to a page to containing a refresh to the “help:” handler that uses Help to execute the script you just downloaded. Whew.

The fix? Download MoreInternet 1.1.1, install it, and set the handler for “help” to Chess or TextEdit, apps that won’t execute scripts automatically via the help protocol. More info available at MacOSXHints.

Apple really dropped the ball on this one. I mean come on, scripts that can be executed when they’re part of a URL? Christ.

Here’s an example of one that lists a directory’s contents. A said above, they can be made to do much more.

UPDATE: Phil says if you’re clicking random links you deserve it.

Back at Spiremedia

alternateorg on May 14, 2004

The fish has changed and so has the pond, but as of (most likely) May 17th, 2004, I’m back at Spiremedia. Say yay for health insurance.

Luca

alternateorg on May 13, 2004

Luca, a cocoa-based accounting system written in Java using MySQL as it’s database looks really neat, and I’d love to integrate it into the system I’m writing for Tai’s company. But god damn, where are the icons? Push-buttons in the top bar for print and export? For a guy who waxes philosophical about the Mac’s many advantages, he doesn’t seem that interested in making nice-looking applications. Sheesh.

MS to rely on 3D rendering

alternateorg on May 6, 2004

3D graphics on a PC have long been stuck with a “for games only” reputation. Of course, you could rightfully argue that 3D performance has been the driving force behind most recent PC performance increases; usually, the “application” that needed all the horsepower your PC could muster wasn’t an application at all, but a high-powered 3D game. But now the shroud of illegitimacy is about to be lifted, as Microsoft prepares to rely on 3D performance to power its Longhorn operating system.

Wow. Pretty ground-breaking, out-of-the-box thinking going on at Microsoft.

Haha.. oops. I guess that link should have pointed here. Sigh. It’s getting boring talking about this kind of thing. Or it’s actually been boring for well, I guess about 9 years now.

The More You Know….

alternateorg on April 27, 2004

Did you know that the Denver parking authority can boot your car while it’s parked in your driveway?

It’s true! They can. And will.