Happy Halloween!

In honor of this candylicious scaretastic ghoulfest, I've decided to share a Halloween memory. My earliest recollection of trick or treating involves a TRICK! I guess that's why it stands out so clearly. I was with my mother, trekking from house to house in a nice neighborhood with sidewalks. On a side note, I took sidewalks for granted as a youth, but now I know better, having experienced life in a town with a clear disdain for them!

So I'm walking along with my candy bag, all decked out in full Halloween attire (What costume? No clue!), and I come to the next house on the block. My mother stayed at the curb, and I walked up the path to the front door. I think I heard some sort of party going on inside. I rang the bell, fully expecting another friendly candy handout. And out jumps this guy in a skull mask, shouting his head off. My first thought: "Where's the candy?" My second thought, which quickly replaced my first thought: "AAAAHHHH!!!!" I ran back to the safety of my mother, who warmly and calmly consoled me.

What happened next? Did I continue trick or treating? Or did we call it a night? I don't remember! But I do remember how I felt about the guy in the skull mask. I think at some level I was aware that it was just a mask, but the behavior of the character in the mask was so freaky, it combined with the mask's fear factor (rather than fake factor) to give me something to remember for…the rest of my life?

The lesson I learned that night? There's just as much truth to the Trick as to the Treat in "Trick or Treat!"

I can understand the appeal of iPods, iPhones, and Game Boys. And since technology keeps getting easier and easier to operate (at least on the client side, for the most part), some of these gadgets are smoothly adopted into the lives of children. But is it right for a child to be in possession of something that costs more than one year's allowance, and yet can easily be snatched away?

A little while back, I read a story concerning a young boy who had committed suicide after someone at school stole his iPod. My first thought was, "Why in the world would he have brought it to school when there are bullies like that?" But then I realized that while technology is moving quickly, it's also changing in such a way that the people who can afford to give their children iPods may not think anything of it. "Oh, everybody's got one." Not so.

I saw a segment from a street interview when the iPhone just came out that pointed up this societal divide. A woman was talking about the new iPhone, which at the time was still unavailable, and therefore worth even more than Apple originally charged for it. All those people standing in line for days to be "first" would have easily paid a thousand dollars or more to get their hands on the product even earlier. So if you had one before anyone else, you were sitting on a small gold mine.

Anyway, back to the interview. A man on the street stood behind the woman on camera and just stared at the iPhone in her hand. He looked like he might not be able to afford one, even after the price drop. I saw this clip on YouTube, and some of the comments were about how sure viewers were that given the chance, the guy would have snatched the gizmo and run for his life. Just so you know, what actually happened was another guy showed up, and stole — the microphone! The reporter was fine, and the thief was subsequently tackled.

It seems crazy, when you think about it, to give a child an electronic device that is practically worth its weight in gold. People put more effort into stealing radios out of cars than it takes to snatch an iPod. It's like taking really expensive candy from a baby. My view on this is, if you give your young kid an iPod or similar device and allow them to bring it out in public, you're just asking for trouble.

I speak English, so my Yahoo! email account is in English. Today I went to do a search through my 81,246,598 saved messages, and suddenly all my high school Spanish classes were put to the test (well, more like a quiz :). I typed in my query, and was taken to a page where instead of the normal Yahoo! logo, they showed me this:

My messages were all in English, but all the words Yahoo! provided for navigation around the site had been converted to Spanish.

After I found what I was looking for, I clicked the, "Check Mail" button, which at that point looked like this:

And everything went back to normal.

So now I know: Yahoo! has hidden rooms. And sometimes a glitch will get you in for free!

I wonder if people speaking in tongues are really suddenly using another language, because of a similar glitch? Cue the Twilight Zone theme…

The other night I was playing Internet Checkers with the same opponent for an hour and a half. It blew my mind that he/she kept wanting to play again, so I figured, "why not?" We ended up playing around 25 games before my opponent finally left without a word. Cool. But a few games before it was all over, I caught a glimpse of something small and dark moving smoothly across the floor. I thought, "That was too well-defined to be imagined." So after the extended Checkers game play ended, I found a sticky mousetrap and set it near where I had seen the phantom rodent.

This mousetrap is like flypaper. It's a thin plastic frame filled with gooey adhesive. I touched it to make sure it hadn't dried out, and left a small fingerprint. It took a small amount of work to remove the adhesive residue from my one finger, so I figured a mouse that stumbled onto the trap would have a tough time escaping. Indeed, similar traps have proved themselves in the past. The mouse gets stuck, and slowly turns to dust. Literally. It's like he just disintegrates. So I figured, "Great. The trap is set. Now I can rest."

A couple of days later, I was going through some things in an area near where I had seen the phantom rodent, and I found a set of headphones I used to use. Earbuds, really, made by Sony. These are absolutely fantastic. I got an iPod a few years ago, and the headphones they came with were awful. Not that they broke easily. It's just that they're built to "fit" into your ear. They're tiny, rigid speakers that I'm supposed to wedge into the area I would stick my fingers if a jet went supersonic right in front of me. And I never could fit that type of headphone into my left ear. One size does not fit all. So I was thrilled when a couple of friends came back from a trip to Japan with two sets of Earbuds. These headphones work just like the ones Apple sends out, with one major exception. The speaker is even smaller, and surrounded by a special cushion that actually goes into your ear, like an earplug. So not only do they fit perfectly, they also help block out extraneous noise. Needless to say, I had to have a pair. After some research, I decided to go with the American version. I think they cost less than the Japanese one, or were in greater supply or something.

So I've got my great earphones. Time comes when I stop using them as much. Eventually I left them on a chair. I kept them open and available, should I ever need them again, as I'm not completely done with them, and don't feel I'll ever be. They are after all fantastic. Well, what did I discover a couple of days after the phantom rodent first registered on my "that's odd" alarm, but that he had apparently chewed through the wire of my Earbuds, severing one of the speakers from the line. He had made three breaches of the wire before his efforts finally paid off and he removed one of the key components. So now I need a new set of Earbuds. And now I'm sure there's a mouse where it doesn't belong. I decided to upgrade my rodent elimination efforts.

Every day I had been checking the trap, and every day it remained empty. So I went and found an old electronic device that was not being used at the moment. This gizmo is basically a small speaker designed to emit a high-pitched noise at regular intervals, the speed of which can be adjusted. I plugged it in, turned it all the way up, and set it in place. That'll show him. But there's still a problem. The mouse was elusive to begin with. My expectation is that the speaker will make him leave. So how do I know if that's happened? I guess I'll never know. But at least I can pretend.

This blog used to be located at nuclearnoir.com. I've since decided to use that domain for another project, and move to a new site where the main focus can be my blog. I figured it wouldn't be too difficult, and it really didn't seem that way, at first. I was able to copy everything, but when I finally went to click on a post's permalink, I got a 404 error.

I searched the web, and tried a few solutions. My old permalink structure had been the "year, month, day, post title" kind, so I wanted to keep it that way here. After a short while of trial and error, I found a solution. Now my permalinks work just fine. Here's how I did it.

First, I had to move my blog. I logged into my dashboard at nuclearnoir.com, and clicked on the Manage tab.

In the subset of tabs, I clicked Export.

I clicked the "Download Export File" to save all my old posts to my computer.

Then I installed a fresh version of WordPress at Misinterpreted.org, using the Famous 5 Minute Install method.

Then I FTP'd to NuclearNoir and copied the entire wp-content folder to my hard drive.

I FTP'd to Misinterpreted.org and copied the wp-content directory in its entirety over the "blank slate" version the fresh install had created.

I logged into my new dashboard at Misinterpreted.org and clicked the Options tab.

On the subset of tabs, I clicked Permalinks.

I changed the setting from Default to "Date and name based," which is how I had it at NuclearNoir.

Then I clicked the main tab Manage, and the sub tab Import.

On the Import page, I found WordPress at the bottom of the list of links, and clicked it.

I uploaded the saved export file from NuclearNoir, which added all my old posts to the new site.

Hello World was still showing as my first post here at Misinterpreted.org, since I had just installed WordPress, so I tested it's permalink. 404 error.

After various other attempts, I FTP'd to Misinterpreted.org and changed the .htaccess file.

This is what it contained before I altered it:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

Then I added a little bit, to make it look like this:

<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
</Directory>

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

I tested the permalink, and got a 500 Internal Server Error.

I tried to load my homepage, but got the same error.

I changed the .htaccess back to the way it was.

My site came back, and permalinks now work!

If I hadn't found a solution, I could have left permalinks on Default, since that was the only setting that worked to begin with. But I figured the date and title would be more helpful.

I hope this helps some of you trying to resolve the same problem. If anyone can tell me why changing the .htaccess file and then changing it back worked, I'd love to know.

I came across this book today, and all I can say is wow. It describes how the five mass extinction events of the past worked. Four of the five, including the one that killed all the dinosaurs, involved greenhouse gases reaching a level that we could reach in 100 years if we're not careful. That would mean the death of over half of earth's inhabitants.

The way things work now, there's a cycle in the ocean, with water moving around enough to be oxygenated, allowing the right creatures to live. If it gets hot enough, that cycle will stop, the water will no longer be oxygenated, and those creatures will be replaced by bacteria. These bacteria will produce hydrogen sulfide, and much of the ocean's life will die. Worst case scenario? In 100 years, humans will have caused the 6th mass extinction event, and the sky will be green.

So this got me thinking. If we've got all the evidence, and all the reason in the world to change our destructive ways and clean up emissions, what's stopping us? Are there forces at work manipulating the belief of the public, and if so, why? What do they have to gain? How does one profit from the destruction of a planet?

Unless you're an alien!

I remember just a few years ago I started wondering why we no longer seemed afraid of nuclear war. I had seen videos depicting the fear shared by members of my parent generation a few decades ago. I figured, "Well, the threat isn't that big a deal anymore." But then I wondered, if we still have the technology, there's still a threat. Sure, foreign countries aren't really in the news all that much (this was a few years ago, mind you) as being threatening in a nuclear sense, but that could change. Every time I heard another country became a nuclear power, I felt like one of the geeky kids cheated his way into the popular clique. "India has The Bomb? What in the world happened?"

The media wasn't really mentioning nuclear war as a major issue. Movies depicted end times scenarios, but that was about it. We focused on "lesser" battles, non-nuclear confrontations. And slowly, steadily, various nations began acquiring nuclear technology without any mainstream naysayer. Now, it seems, we may have reached a crystallization point. Enough countries have gone nuclear that there is an even greater threat to the world in general than when everybody lived in fear.

World War III is sometimes thought of as a dragged-out nuclear conflict. On the contrary. Nuclear weapons will greatly speed things up. If we ever do reach the point of a full-scale nuclear war with our neighbors, it will probably last less than 48 hours.

The last couple of Popes have been worried that George W. Bush could be the Antichrist. Fidel Castro is worried Bush could set off WWIII. Bush himself is worried that Iran, once nuclear, will destroy Israel, launching WWIII. The Mayan calendar is set to end on December 21, 2012.

Technology is at the point where a chip implanted into people could become the "mark of the beast." In the Book of Revelations, it says "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Could "number of his name" refer to the number of the "man," and not the "beast?" In that case, the number of your name could be your social security number.

Throughout history, people have been afraid of the end of the world, and have often expected and anticipated it. It hasn't happened yet. But right now, in 2007, with so many different variables seeming to come together, could this really be it? Jesus said no man would know the true date of the end. Could he have meant, "A lot of people will disregard the signs pointing to the widely-anticipated date, which will indeed mark the end"?

Maybe Tom Cruise has the right idea in building his $10 million bunker.

Mass hysteria!!!

But seriously, what would happen if all the computers everywhere suddenly no longer had access to the internet? All the servers go down, and suddenly we've got no email, no instant communication, and no online banking. Transactions are frozen in limbo, money is tied up, and people can't get word to one another as quickly and easily as before.

Enter the cell phone. Everybody starts texting or calling one another, using mobile devices as a way to bridge the communication gap that was suddenly created by a global lack of internet access. Everyone calls everyone else all at the same time, and overload whatever cellular systems hadn't already been taken out with the World Wide Web Crash. So now there's no internet, and no cell phone.

People again switch tools, and move to land lines. But there are far fewer land lines than cell phones. Indeed, many households with four cell phones have at most two separate land lines. Half the calls that would have been made on a cell phone never get made at all. Lines form at the telephone booths, riots ensue, communication breaks down, and progress suffers. The world hits a standstill.

Meanwhile, the Storm Worm hacks its way into the government's nuclear facilities, and launches on the Russians.

John Connor: "Why attack Russia? Aren't they our friends now?"
The Terminator: "Because SkyNet knows the Russian counter-attack will eliminate its enemies over here."

So, if the net went down, what would happen? People would turn to cell phones, then turn to land lines, and then turn to the window and squint at the mushroom clouds.

Have you heard of the Storm Worm? It's a virus that is subtly spreading through cyberspace. It gets into your computer through an infected link, and once it's in, gains control over your system. It has very few noticeable symptoms. That means that your computer could be infected right now, and you wouldn't even know it.

Apparently, thousands and thousands of computers are already affected, and there's no way to stop the Storm Worm from spreading to thousands more. All the computers infected make up a network that gives incredible power to whoever is orchestrating this whole thing, because all those computers can be used to run programs, send files, visit websites, and do pretty much anything the virus' creator wants. So far, however, very little has been done with Storm Worm computers, which is why they're so hard to find. A few web sites have been attacked, including one aimed at describing exactly how the Storm Worm works, but that's been about it.

In Terminator 3, a virus spread throughout the internet, infecting computers with itself. It turned out that a powerful U.S. government system called SkyNet had become self-aware, and was using the virus to gain control over every computer and machine it could.

People theorize that the Storm Worm's owner will only use his power when his network of infected PCs reaches into the hundreds of millions. What if the owner is SkyNet? What if AI has already emerged? And Judgment Day is today, 6 hours from now?