The focus of prayer.
Bagel Virus Finally Arrives
It was only this morning when I received a strange looking email. It had an attachment and looked everything like a virus. My immediate reaction to something like this is to simply delete it as I don’t consider messing with viruses a very wise thing to do…
This time was a little different however, and I stopped, my finger poised above the delete key. There was something about this email that made me mad. It said that it was not only TO me, but also FROM me. I started to investigate a little more, and sure enough it appeared as though it was coming from me. Now that was bad. Not only that, but they had misspelled my email address.
Although it was sent to me at groovyguppy.com somehow they had mashed the from address to make it groovyboovy.com – I don’t like viruses, but I hate impersonation. And this was not only impersonation, but bad impersonation at that.
So now I was angry and started looking at any possible way to track down this offending sender. With a little basic research it became obvious that the email originated from an ISP in Brisbane, Australia. I have a lot of friends there, so it was likely that one of them was infected. But when I checked out what I thought was a misspelt domain name, I discovered to my surprise that the address really exists. And ironically we are both Robs. What are the chances of that? Probably a lot I guess, with so many domain names and people in this world. But it caught my attention.
So the end result was, after finding out that it could be genuine, I checked out the attachment. Sure enough, it was a virus. The Bagel Virus. The BBC News mentions how getting it from Australia is not too uncommon:
Many people in Australia look like they have been caught out by the virus as many of the copies of Bagle caught by MessageLabs have originated there.
The worst part of it all is that the virus makes your PC remote controlable:
As well stealing e-mail addresses Bagle also attempts to let its creator know when it has managed to infect a new victim. It also opens up a backdoor on infected machines that hands over control of that machine to the virus’ creator.
That was all news back in 2004. Once again however, in June this year it took to the headlines again. Not much has been heard about it since then, but obviously it is still circulating. So make sure that your antivirus software is up to date and functioning.
And finally, in the famous words of Roy Johnson, “If you receive something that says ‘Send this to everyone you know,’ pretend you don’t know me.”
YWAM Conference and Photos
It was just after seven in the morning on the 12th of November, and somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed after only three and a half hours of sleep. I had been creating a website with the photo highlights of the conference. Within a short while the last day of the conference was about to begin, and I needed to be ready for the events of the day. Camera in hand, I wandered over to the bathrooms only to discover that there are no showers. The pump supplying water had blown up during the night, overloaded by the influx of the thousands of people that have inundated this place during the last five days.
Somebody tells me that there is water down the other end of the property, so I begin my search. Warned to look for long lines of people, I almost wander past a small line with only a few people. They were waiting for the use of the one toilet that still had water. This was the place. It was amazing that there were so few people, but I figured that many were still trying to grab a few more moments of needed sleep.
Around the corner I found people standing at the washing tubs, brushing teeth and washing their faces. They all seemed content that there was a way they could carry out a part of their morning routine. I snap a few shots of the action, then hang up my camera and join the activities.
It seems like only moments of relaxing in the morning sun, interspersed with shots of people here and there, before it is time for the conference to begin. I head inside and prepare my corner, hidden with all of the other technology people.
As the program for the day plays out, I am there in the midst of it all, taking as many photos as I feel are needed to be able to capture the feeling of the event. Places, actions, and events. Faces, people, and emotions. Constantly scanning around me for something that would represent the moment. Searching for that photo that would express the emotion of the people.
When the last event for the day had finished, I put my camera down. It was wonderful to finally stop. Something that I love doing, after five days and more than three thousand photos I had grown weary. It was good to see the end of it all.
With Passion
Portrait of a Man
A Serious Sport
People’s Attitudes to Other People’s Stuff
One of the things that really gets on my nerves is other people not caring about stuff that is not theirs. Here, in South America where money seems to be in such short supply, you would expect that people would be extremely careful with stuff that was not theirs because they could not afford to repair or replace it. This is certainly not the case that I have found.
The only times that I have seen people respecting the property of others it has been so different to the average attitude that it has stood out in a very obvious way. These people are different. Most of them however, seem to not give a damn. Literally.
One example is that when you loan stuff to most people, it never seems to come back. I am not talking about me only here. Each time I mention it to other people they smile and say that it happens the same way to them too. Each time I have had to go to that person and ask for that particular item of mine which they still have, following them to their house to retrieve it. It seems to be the expected, and accepted behaviour here.
Another is in the renting of movies and borrowing of commerical items. Today, I found three DVDs that have been sitting on the table since Saturday night… when they were rented for just one night. Today is Wednesday. I saw them there on Monday and told the person responsible, to which he nonchalantly replied, “Oh yeah, I forgot about them.”
These DVDs were still sitting there unreturned today. Finding this guy once again, I told him about them. His reply, “Oh yeah, I forgot.” There was no look of concern on his face, no indication of guilt, no care for the possible fees that are amounting… which he has no way of paying, and no concern that the store would be losing possible revenue. None of it appeared important to him. Water off a ducks back.
This is not an isolated incident. Many times people return these sorts of things late, if at all. In my experience they rarely return things at all. What is it that gives these people, and I am talking about those who struggle to get by on what meagre amounts of money they have, such an attitude towards stuff that is not theirs?
I am stunned by this attitude people have here towards other people’s stuff.
