Welcome to the Dark Side: Pitfalls and Other Assorted Dangers On The Information Super-highway

Is the Internet crumbling under it's own weight? Has it gotten so huge no one can really regulate the Wild West mentality that predominates? Does anyone really knows who is using it and how things are hooked up? Who is in charge?

I think we have become so dependent on technology and the internet for our stimulation and communication that we are unaware of our addiction and utter dependence on it. Many of my younger friends are experiencing a variety of emotions from murderous rage to catatonia as a result of the online Playstation outage that is still on going. When I offered one of them a book, he looked at me with bewilderment and said, "What is THAT" like it was an ancient relic. Facebook and the Internet has been  filled with rants and laments over this. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20056503-260.html .

Amazon's cloud is also having problems and people are becoming very unhappy that the much touted cloud is so easily disrupted.http://www.itworld.com/cloud-computing/158589/amazon-outage-sparks-frustration-doubts-about-cloud.   It seems like the internet is falling apart by coordinated attacks by hackers. I fear a cascade of service failures will damage many companies who depend on the internet to conduct business, not to mention social networking sites would also disrupt communication around the world. In such uncertain times the last thing we need is more uncertainty.


Scams and hacks on the Internet abound and most of that comes in through our email or in posionous links put out by prankser, hackers and scammers; all assholes.  In my mail box I found a letter from a company claiming to be Paypal and offering me a new service if I would just follow the link provided. They just wanted all my information including my account number and pass word. Yeah, right. I don't even have a Paypal account! 

I, too have felt the sting of  being victimized by people who have invaded my computer in the past. Someone named Mrs. Julian Williams hijacked my ATT mail account.  It took an hour and a half to solve the problem. Boy, was I pissed.  I have no idea how that happened, but I am learning how to take better care of my computer. Number one safety tip is to have a good security service  like McAfee or Norton. I don't mind paying $60 or $70 a year for a security suite subscription that updates itself. Rule Number Two: Always log out of any webside and close your browser when you are done using the Internet.



The hacking group Anonymous is claiming they didn't do the Playstation hack (which makes them even more suspect in my mind).  I dispise people who take pleasure in disrupting people's lives for fun and profit.  These type of  people should  be vigorously denied access to the internet and technology.


Internet predators come in all ages, races and cultures . Cyber criminals should not be considered heroes. Unfortunately our world culture considers anyone who doesn't follow the rules admirable.  Perhaps when someone who admires hackers gets their identity stolen or even their Play Station service interrupted, they might reconsider what they find cool, kewl, or what ever way you want to spell it..

Criminal gangs from  around the world are finding easy pickings on the web and many times intimidate people by holding their data or webstites hostage.. Yea, the super information hiway will get you there fast, but like anything else that goes fast: when it crashes or you get hijacked it's  gonna hurt. I know one day we are going to see a closed sign when we try to get on the internet, I think this could easily happen if the government gives the president the power to shut it down or anonymous punks take power and shut it down.

Wordsmithing In The 21st Century



photo by Mary Beetle Carroll 2011

 Are you one of those people who  have a great story to tell? Do you procrastinate and find reasons not to move forward and get it done?  Well don’t let terrible handwriting hold you back!  Technology was made for you and me!  

We all started out with crayons, chalk and pencils. In the past, the next progression was to a variety of pens: fountain pens, quill pens, fancy pens of exotic woods or precious metals and of course, the ubiquitous Bic.

They all wound up in the desk drawer dried up and obsolete. We all probably went through our parent’s desk drawer with their own collection of pens, matchbooksm pocketknives and other interesting junk. Look at  today’s desk drawer and you will find blank cds, usb cords, sandisks, old mp3 players, and yeah a few dried out pens.

 Next came the manual typewriter; My  grandfather grudgingly let me use his Smith Corona when I had to turn in my first typed paper.  It took me two weeks and I had to redo it five times.  

 

The Apple IIE was the first computer I  bought.  I liked that you could  cut, paste and save your work. It made editing so much easier. I think it was then I was getting an inkling that I would succeed; eventually. It still didn't grammar and spellcheck, though. That would have to wait until the invention of Word Perfect.

 It took me until just a few years ago to start writing stories that I made up. You know; Fiction.  My grammar is so so. I couldn’t give you the parts of speech or diagram a sentence if my life depended on it.   I welcomed the pesky little green and red lines that told me something was wrong.

Things are a bit more complicated writing a script or story on a laptop, but the results can be stunning and fast. I wrote 26 pages of my script this morning in about two hours. There is nothing like being motivated, jazz on the radio and ice cold tea to drink while I  write my masterpiece. I easily type over 100 hundred words a minute on a computer, can make corrections on the spot and can globally  replace a word with another.  The ability to be awesome has come to my desk.

My "masterpiece" is a story about my grandmother who was a teenager during the Mexican Revolution. She used to tell it to me when I was a kid.  It is about the day she met the most famous person she would ever meet. It has been stuck in my mind for 2o years waiting to be let out.  That time is now.  Taking a course in scriptwriting is giving me the confidence to write this script.

Writing this script is a means for me to honor my grandmother and family with a story that tells our story but would still be entertaining and uplifting even to strangers. Themes of hope, despair, love, perseverance and survival are universal and we all cheer when the bad guy gets it, justice is served and the good guy gets the pretty girl.

 I want to make people feel like they are actually there and to feel the things the characters in my script and movie feel. The only thing I need to do now is check the stars and make sure I have the backing of the universe and I think I will…! I can see it now: "Coming soon to a theater near you "Lemonade and Justice."  A young girl finds love, finds justice and keeps her family together when her father is murdered by an unscrupulous employee in a Mexico wracked by civil war.....

HEAVY METAL FOR SENIOR CITIZENS 102 - FUN WITH PHOTOSHOP!

Ever want to put people in a place they can't or don't want to be in?  You can do it in Photoshop with a bit of imagination, time and patience. My friends in the Death Metal Band Burial of Terra wanted me to do exactly that as a result of a change in the band member lineup. 

Jacob "The Destroyer" Williams

Jacob had to take over playing bass because the bass player quit, so the band was down to four members. THEN, the vocalist quit and the bass player came back. Jacob is now on vocals. Multi-talented guy that Jacob.

The band is playing more gigs http://youtu.be/_gro1LWKhyM and want more publicity. I volunteered my creative services in that department.  It is not about money, I enjoy their energy and am practicing my PR and creative skills. I am still documenting their shows; their fan base is growing.

I also created a future CD cover for them which is not PG!  Young metal fans love anything that is contemptuous of conventional mores. This image would not be well recieved at schools which we send publicity out to.

Jacob, asked me, "Beetle, (my nickname) can you put us in water like a creek or river without us having to get wet?" I thought about it and said, "Yeah I think I can." Up in Bandera there many running creeks and the Medina River.  We went to a creek near Jacob's house and I started shooting pictures.  I got the shots I needed to create the band in the creek idea; I just had to figure out how.

     

After some experimentation I finally got the effect the band wanted.  Using my Photoshop and visual artist skills the band was up to their waists in the creek. They liked the way their reflections came out in the water.

Ha, Ha, I got some nice complements from them including, " Beetle, your the man" even though I am female. Neat trick considering the water in this section of the creek was only a foot deep.

I forgot to include their guitars and drums.  I will save that idea for another day. Ummm, maybe I will put them on the moon  riding dragons or on a giant guitar with the earth exploding behind them....the possibilities are endless!







The Electronic Pickpocket

I do most of my banking, pay bills and shop over the Internet like millions of people do.  It was only two years ago that I quit going to the post office to buy money orders, pay a bill in person or write a check.  Online banking though a boon for most is still fraught with danger if caution is not exercised when conducting business.  We hear plenty of horror stories of people whose identity has been stolen, but what I don’t hear enough of is these people being arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated with no internet access at all for life.

It is more than a bit difficult to trace and track down people who steal other people’s money and identity.  Usually, these thieves live in another country that doesn’t really have the resources or the will to combat online thieves.  The latest threat to our financial wellbeing is the ability of people to steal information by scanning a person’s wallet from a few feet away.   The remedy for that is to have a metal wallet that the scanner cannot penetrate.  I thought I would have to spend a lot of money and order it on line, but they sell them at HEB for 10 bucks. Am I paranoid? You bet I am when it comes to my money.

http://godirect.org/

A bit of interesting information I learned this week from my friend (who receives VA disability) is that the Federal Government will stop printing checks in 2013 for the millions of people who receive any kind of government payments.  She has no bank account and is not taking kindly to this major change in her life.  She cannot afford all the banking fees on her limited income. The government says federal check recipients have two options: 1. Direct deposit to a checking or savings account or 2. get a debit card. I explained to her that if she gets the debit card there are not as many fees as if she had a checking account. 



graphic by Mary Beetle Carroll 2011



Personally, I think it is a good way for the government to save money on printing and mailing those millions of checks.  It is also a good way to possibly stop the flow of drug money. But knowing how crafty drug dealers are, how soon will it be until the local drug dealer has a card reader?

The only problem I have is that now the government can also track a person’s spending habits much more easily.  I think the government is trying to do away with a cash economy. It is a way for the government to document a person’s every expenditure if a debit card is used.  I wonder how soon it will be a crime to use cash for purchases.  It seems like the “mark of the beast” (as foretold in the Bible) is appearing before our very eyes in the form of microchips.

 How soon until it is mandatory for all people to have one implanted?  How soon until we get a letter in the mail from the government telling us we will have to be chipped if we want to do any kind of financial transaction ? Will it start in 2013?   According to some people http://www.av1611.org/666/biochip.html it is on its way.