This song just amuses the heck out of me, so I had to post it here. The band is Chainsmokers, the song is Selfie, the attitude is rampant. And who knows, there might be somebody on the planet who hasn’t seen this yet.
By now everyone knows of the OpenSSL flaw known as Heartbleed that allows people to break its encryption and harvest all your user names, passwords, credit card info, and so forth. On many fridays I post about Live Discs that give you arsenals of free software targetted at specific tasks. While all of them are good, some of them have not been patched yet, so if you have a favorite build you might check with their users forum and see if they have a patched update to download. If you installed Linux to a computer hard drive or memory stick, run your package manager to check for and install updates. If your computer automatically updates itself, use the command
# openssl version -a
or
# sudo openssl version -a
depending on which OS you installed, and look for the build date. If it is on or after April 7th of this year, you are good. If it is before that, you need to get it upgraded, especially if you built your box as a server. Note that you don’t actually use the # in the command; in a Terminal, Shell, or DOS prompt, that tells the computer that what comes after is a comment. It is on this page in front of the command strings so your system doesn’t get confused and try to run it (that almost NEVER happens, but almost isn’t always). Also, you will have to give the command as root, so knowing your root password is important. Once you have updated, change your root password, and start changing your online passwords.
Even if your favorite Live Disc hasn’t been patched, you can still use all the software on it locally. Just don’t use it to go online and buy anything, do any banking, or sign into email or other services until they have a patched ISO for you to burn to disc. If you have a MAC instead of Linux, guess what; you are using Linux with a MAC GUI interface lying on top of it, you can use your normal proceedures to get it updated and patched. If you use Windows and have OpenSSL on your computer, visit the OpenSSL Web Site to grab an updated build.
Probably the first computer playable game I ever got addicted to was the HHGTTG from Infocom, although 9 Princes In Amber and Leather Goddesses of Phobos were both hot on its heels. Now you can play the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy Game 30th Anniversary Edition online at BBC Radio for an updated retro gaming experience. They do warn you to save your game state often, as it tends to kill you a lot, but it includes a bunch of new story passages written by Douglas Adams that they have been sitting on for a while.
Going to be in Washington, D.C. in May? Then you might want to attend the second annual The Future Is Here Festival at the Smithsonian on May 16th, 17th and 18th. Some of the speakers will include Patrick Stewart, Brian Greene, Adam Steltzner, George Takei, Stewart Brand, Sara Seager, Kim Stanley Robinson, David Brin, and The Mythbusters… and that’s just on one day! At the higher ticket levels the event also includes priority seating on Saturday night for the national premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past at the National Museum of American History, and Patrick will be taking questions from the audience afterwards.
One of my favorite fantasy series is Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, where Harry Dresden is the only person listed in the Chicago Yellow Pages under the profession Wizard, and is a special consultant to the Chicago PD. This is an amazingly good blend of gritty noir detective story and combat sorcery, with an entire cast of characters you would want to have with you in a tight spot… or as far from you as inhumanly possible. There are 16 books in the series so far, 15 novels and a collection of short stories, and a TV series that ran for one season on Sci-Fi (it wasn’t Syfy yet). Oh, yeah, two of the Graphics Novels were original Harry Dresden stories not published in Novel form, kicking us up a few books, and James Marsters reads all the audiobook versions but one. Start yourself off with Storm Front; bet you can’t read just one!
Animated fun this time around with Rio 2, from the folks who brought us the Ice Age series. Our happy blue couple think they are the last of their species, but then others like themselves are spotted in the Amazon. There is nothing for it but to pack up their three kids and go find out who else might have survived, and whether they will end up having a future together. But Blu should have worried more about the past, as he discovers he now has a father in law… and a long lost romantic rival he never knew existed.
Besides the silliness and great characters this production house excels at, I expect they may also throw in a selection of samba driven music to fuel the soundtrack, as they did the first time around. The musical pieces they did in the original film allowed them to showcase some quite complex and well choreographed dance animations that were absolutely amazing to watch, especially in 3D. I look forward to seeing at least one such sequence in the sequel, although I can’t imagine what they could do to top their initial offering.