Air: the Difference

04/01/2006  Below is important and recent news (via links) of cracker - not hacker - activity on some recently touted websites that I may have referred to recently in interviews.  Any webmasters out there would be wise to go to these links.

Also, please be advised that there was a recent spate of cracker activity today and yesterday all over the net nodes (the big ones that we call hubs) involving the newest CISCO routers that have not been recently patched yet!  Ping times were reported on all routes in excess of 175ms !  Get busy you admins or the fit will hit the shan before you can say "adapt".

Air: the Difference  is an interview show conducted by myself, Dan Prowse, usually without help.  However, if when reading the upcoming news on interviews pending, you feel eminently qualified to participate as an adjunct interviewer, then by all means contact me so an arrangement whereby you can lead the interview can be realized ASAP.  Now, what kind of flowery talk is that?

My interview approach is rather simple.  A few days to weeks before the interview I gather plenty of Google and then apply, at the interview, a "What makes you want to continue this work you do?" and "What technology do you use in what you do?" approach.  That is pretty much it.  After a few answers, I then apply the third: A difference.  In other words, I pose a question or statement from my point of view or interest level in the subject matter and at the same time I do not worry too much that the question or statement conflicts with the opinions of the interviewee.  I invite conversation, but not just for the sake of it.  Not surprisingly, this is not how I conduct my personal life in conversation.  In "real" not-on-Air life, I am long winded and even verbose yet at times I will use big college words to foil my "opponent".  Also, although I have been accused of not "staying focused" - my personal favorite - I DO THAT ON PURPOSE.  Also, my personal favorite.  I use this technique to help other people realize they we all need to stop acting positive about the negative, and stop being negative about the positive.  If by now you are scratching your head and thinking, "huh", then you have taken the first step toward recovery.  Hey, look at this, I have almost constructed a complete paragraph!

Anyone who cares to converse with me on this or other matters that interest you, I welcome you to call in to our show or IM us (IM us at beakerboy10000@msn.com)

The show times will generally be scheduled for 5pm or 7pm on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, Fridays or Saturdays, or 3pm or 5pm on Sundays, of any given week.  I will have an RSS feed made to help keep you all posted of new interviews (the RSS feed helps you stay informed without having to dig through a bunch of pages just to find something new).

Also, all or most of the interview - as well as most of the DJ shows - will be made available for streaming via Apple's iTunes store.  By purchasing a show or interview for 99 cents each, you will be adding 89.1 cents to the CLC Radio Scholarship fund.  This fund was set up by Bill Devore, Executive Director, College of Lake County Foundation, where the rest of the 99c goes toward a general fund to be distributed among other worthy projects.

To the recent "spykidz owns you" messages found when visiting some websites that you were damned sure were safe from this kind of stuff:

http://www.bazon.net/mishoo/home.epl?NEWS_ID=1106

This one came to my attention after having interviewed Jonathan Waterman and having pulled out of my very own methane factory the "fact" that hydrogen fuel is just the shiznit way to go for the future of domestic earthly vehicle travel!  Well I couldn't have been more wrong as apparently it takes oil to make hydrogen!  I previously was unaware...

Now to the crack as mentioned above, I personally saw this crack "working" on Arianna Huffington's The Detroit Project website.  Don't be afraid to click on that link in the previous sentence - you will not be cracked (or hacked, as most uniformed people would want you to believe).  Now, notice when you just cover your mouse ever so lightly over the link, you will see down in your activity area of your web browser's status bar the true link name.  It sure looks legit, doesn't it.  It is legit. And to help prove this, click on the bazon.com link at the top of this section for an explanation and a possible cure to the "spykidz" webserver crack.

Just in case the cracker attacks again, here is the google-cached link:  http://www.umich.edu/~thedp/index2.html  -  it may be a bit out of date, however you will be able to get the idea.: 

Then again, as I right this tome, I now see upon rechecking the links that someone is in the live process of fixing the server pages that have been cracked.  Good.

Is it finished?  Check this site out:  http://www.zone-h.com/defacements/onhold  Do be careful here and run your firewall, you will probably get a 216 error when you close the connection.  I did.

If you are a system admin and you do not investigate the above website to learn what crackers are doing, then you need to change careers.  The RFC link alone is worth your job.

And now, you have probably guessed who I may next interview:  It is a toss-up between Chris Perillo or Leo LePorte - both of which would probably have to be interviewed online or by phone because they are - by visiting their respective and their respectable websites -  busier than most of us..