Well, being away from my log for a while has left some interesting bread crumbs to sift through.
For example, I have noted that someone in Iran (80.191.136.xx) has been trying to attack my site.
I tracked back a couple very sloppy attempts to the Isfahan municipality computer services organization.
Basically, in the latest attempt, they have been searching for a vulnerable version of wp-trackback.php, and submitting “‘ and 1=1” to post.php.
Many apologies for my hiatus from my log. I confess I was working so much that I lost time. I’m back again with much to say…
Here’s a poem by Bertolt Brecht that I noted in the movie Lives of Others, (51:11). Thought this might help get things started again:
One particular day in blue-moon September
below a young plum tree, quietly
I held her, my silent pale love,
in my arms like a pleasant dream.
Above us in the beautiful summer sky
was a cloud that caught my eye.
It was a pure white and so far high.
but when I looked up, it had already gone.
The subtitles did not give the poem justice so I felt like writing my own. Harper’s has posted a more formal translation with an interesting continuation of the poem, as well as reference to the movie.
It seems a man in India who claimed his leg had great and supernatural powers has been brutally attacked. The BBC reports that his leg was stolen by thieves:
The 80-year-old holy man, Yanadi Kondaiah, claimed to have healing powers in the leg.
He is now recovering from his ordeal in hospital in the city of Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Local people believed they could be healed of spiritual and physical problems if they touched his leg.
As the value of this asset grew, so did the threat. But the man apparently did not realize how vulnerable he was.
“As the old man had the weakness of drinking, he accepted their invitation to have drinks with them,” said local police Sub-Inspector Pendakanti Dastgiri.
“They took him to a deserted spot in the outskirts of the village.
“After the old man had passed out under the influence of liquor, they cut off his right leg from the knee,” he said.
Ouch. While it is easy to say it was his fault for boasting about the value of his leg, to do speculates about value and blames the victim. The problem is best considered in a more holistic (pun not intended) security manner, with recognition that he was too vulnerable and the threat was strangely unmitigated.
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The best part of the BBC take on the new British Citizen test is the part about culture as it relates to safety. It starts slowly with a simple question:
Life in the UK explains what to do if you spill someone’s pint in the pub (we’re not making this up). What, according to the book, usually happens next?
A: You would offer to buy the person another pint
B: You would offer to dry their wet shirt with your own
C: You may need to prepare for a fight in the car park
While the correct answer would seem to be A, the article then takes an amusing turn:
You’ve unfortunately had that fight and are bleeding from a well-placed left hook. Which two telephone numbers can you call for an ambulance?
A: 999 or 112
B: 999 or 111
C: 999 or any other digit three times
Just when you think the humor has ended, several questions later you are suddenly back to issues of safety and security:
Back to that pub. The police turn up with the ambulance and an officer asks you to attend an interview at the station. What are your rights?
A: You don’t have to go if you are not arrested, but if you do go voluntarily you are free to leave at any time
B: You must go. Failure to attend an interview is an arrestable offence
C: You must go if you are a foreign national
Back to that pub…wait, what was this test for?