Paul Brownlee

mask.of.sanity writes from a report via The Register: U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's freshly minted cyber tsar Rudy Giuliani runs a website so insecure that its content management system is five years out of date, unpatched and is utterly hackable. Giulianisecurity.com, the website for Giuliani's eponymous infosec consultancy firm, runs Joomla! version 3.0, released in 2012, and since found to carry 15 separate vulnerabilities. More bugs and poor secure controls abound. The Register report adds: "Some of those bugs can be potentially exploited by miscreants using basic SQL injection techniques to compromise the server. This seemingly insecure system also has a surprising number of network ports open -- from MySQL and anonymous LDAP to a very out-of-date OpenSSH 4.7 that was released in 2007. It also runs a rather old version of FreeBSD. 'You can probably break into Giuliani's server,' said Robert Graham of Errata Security. 'I know this because other FreeBSD servers in the same data center have already been broken into, tagged by hackers, or are now serving viruses. 'But that doesn't matter. There's nothing on Giuliani's server worth hacking.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We give more Nintendo games the Good-Feel fabric treatment ⊟ 

In our Discord channel yesterday, a very silly discussion popped up about having developer Good-Feel do for more Nintendo franchises what they did for Kirby and Yoshi: basically, reskinning them with textiles.  What followed was a brainstorming session of potential new textile-style games, posited by Eric and I as well as some of the Club Tiny members who populate our very lovely Discord chat, and who probably thought I was kidding when I said this would be a post. I’ve credited them so that their excellent work will be immortalized.

• Linen Luigi
  
• Mohair Metroid
  
• Waffle Weave Race (tanner)
  
• Plushmo
  
• F-Zero: Silk Road ((Ad)am)
  
• Fire Embroidery
  
• Super Merino Bros
• The Legend of Zibeline (stoppableforce)
  
• Star Faux Fur
  
• WarioWool
  
• Cashmere Robo (stoppableforce)
  
• StarAcrylics
  
• Nylondogs (tanner)
  
• Animal Cross Stitching
  
• F-1 Lace
  
• Denim World
  
• Calico Calico Land
  
• Bead Age
  
• Mario Paisley
  
• Punch-Out: Throw in the Towel
  
• Chibi-Robe
  

BUY Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World (3DS), Yoshi’s Woolly World (Wii U) 

by Dan Savage

What was that, CNN?

Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN. The allegations were presented in a two-page synopsis that was appended to a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The allegations came, in part, from memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative, whose past work US intelligence officials consider credible. The FBI is investigating the credibility and accuracy of these allegations, which are based primarily on information from Russian sources, but has not confirmed many essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump.

Here's that bombshell memo. And here's the detail that is blowing up on Twitter...

However, there were other aspects to TRUMP's engagement with the Russian authorities. One which had borne fruit for them was to exploit TRUMP's personal obsessions and sexual perversion in order to obtain suitable "kompromat" (compromising material) on him. According to Source D, where s/he had been present, TRUMP's (perverted) conduct in Moscow included hiring the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where he knew President and Mrs. OBAMA (whom he hated) had stayed on one of their official trips to Russia, and defiling the bed where they had slept by employing a number of prostitutes to perform a "golden showers" (urination) show in front of him. The hotel was known to be under FSB control with microphones and concealed cameras in all the main rooms to record anything they wanted to.

Twitter is a hot stream of piss jokes right now. But we're all waiting for this...

Trump's golden showers angry tweetstorm is going to be amazing

— ♡ brian essbe ♡ (@SortaBad) January 10, 2017

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Have some Sega 3D Classics phone wallpapers ⊟ 

For a Japanese twitter campaign around Sega 3D Classics Final Stage, Sega sought 3333 retweets in order to release this set of wallpapers. The retweets didn’t happen, but Sega released them anyway! There are six in all: the set seen here featuring artwork by Ken Sugimori, one with Columns pixel art, and wallpapers based on the boxarts for included SG-1000 games Champion Boxing (Yu Suzuki’s first game) and Girl’s Garden (Yuji Naka’s first game).

Don’t forget to finish your makeover with a Sega Twitter icon!

BUY Sega 3D Classics Collection

Marissa Meyer is to leave Yahoo, which is to change its name to "Altaba"

Although Hillary Clinton was the first female presidential nominee of a major party in the entirety of U.S. history, I keep seeing the suggestion that gender wound up playing no role in the 2016 election. The evidence cited for such a claim usually includes the fact that more white women voted for Donald Trump than for Hillary Clinton. But in a fantastic piece for Vox called “Why misogyny won”, Emily Crockett takes a detailed look at the ways in which both men and women can be influenced by sexism.

Crockett writes:

To understand how sexism played into Trump’s victory, first you have to understand that there are two basic types of sexism—“hostile” and “benevolent”—and how they work together.

If you have some “hostile” sexist attitudes, you might mistrust women’s motives and see gender relations as a zero-sum battle between male and female dominance. You might agree with statements like, “Many women get a kick out of teasing men by seeming sexually available and then refusing male advances,” or “Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist.”

If you have some “benevolent” sexist attitudes, you might endorse positive—but still patronizing—stereotypes of women. You might agree with statements like, “Women should be cherished and protected by men,” or “Women, compared to men, tend to have a superior moral sensibility.”

Crockett notes that while the two ideas might seem “diametrically opposed to one another,” they are actually “two sides of the same coin” and many people hold both at once. For instance a man can wear a “Trump That Bitch” shirt while also proudly announcing how much he cherishes his wife and daughter. The system operates by elevating “good” women, who fulfill traditional gender roles, against “bad” women, who don't. And women are just as capable of buying into this line of thinking as men.

Crockett explains:

“Trump's strategy was to ramp up anxiety about a dark, dangerous world,” [Peter Glick, professor of psychology and social sciences at Lawrence University] said. “When women are under threat, their benevolent sexism scores go up.”

Specifically, he said, showing women survey data about men’s hostile sexism makes women more likely to endorse benevolent sexism out of psychological self-defense. It may be ironic to turn to men for protection from male hostility, but it’s how the cycle works.

This also helps explain why so many women hold sexist biases against women, Glick said. If women themselves enforce gender norms and punish deviants, it reinforces the social order that guarantees them protection. And it separates them from the “bad” women who are deemed unworthy of that protection.

But that protection can still come with a cost, Glick said—which is also where sexist stereotypes about men factor in. The idea that men have to be providers and protectors, Glick said, goes hand in hand with the “boys will be boys” attitude that’s often used to excuse men’s bad behavior.

“Men are bad but bold. That’s the stereotype,” Glick said. “He’s not a very good protector if he can't beat up on other men.”

Glick said that Trump’s more positive masculine traits — boldness, change, willingness to defy tradition — may be seen as inextricably linked with his more negative ones, like his boorishness and cruelty. Trump may not be a nice guy, the thinking goes, and we may not like some of the things he says. But that just comes with the territory if you want a strong male leader.

Crockett’s piece goes much more in-depth on the issue and is a must-read in its entirety. You can find the full article on Vox. And you can find more of my thoughts on how sexism shaped Clinton's public persona right here.

An anonymous reader quotes Fortune: A new French law establishing workers' "right to disconnect" goes into effect today. The law requires companies with more than 50 employees to establish hours when staff should not send or answer emails. The goals of the law include making sure employees are fairly paid for work, and preventing burnout by protecting private time. French legislator Benoit Hamon, speaking to the BBC, described the law as an answer to the travails of employees who "leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash -- like a dog." The BBC reports that France already has a 35-hour work week, while Fortune adds that many European companies have already taken steps to curtail after-work emails. "In 2012, Volkswagen blocked all emails to employees' Blackberries after-hours," and "Daimler took the step of deleting all emails received by employees while on vacation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Start off 2017 with a dope, tiny roguelike ⊟ 

Released in the dying hours of 2016, Tiny Heist (no relation) is the latest simple but addictive game from Terry Cavanagh of VVVVVV and Super Hexagon fame.

Tine Heist has you playing a cute at-sign with yellow sneakers, dodging searchlights, patrol bots, and sleeping guard dogs while you loot the floor and look for the stairs to the next level. Along the way, you can pick up or buy tools and weapons that will help you survive. Pro-tip: press space to make time pass without actually moving – took me a lot of dying to figure that out!

The game is free and browser-based (a desktop version coming shortly), and I can’t stop playing it! More tiny games please, 2017!

SUPPORT TINY CARTRIDGE Join Club Tiny!

Here's a free 853-page Kindle edition of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian Stories. I got it and the formatting looks good, which is not often the case for free/supercheap ebooks. I read the reviews and people complained about missing chapters, but it looks like the publisher made corrections.

Arc System Works is celebrating Double Dragon's 30th anniversary with Double Dragon IV for the PlayStation 4 and PC.

Read Double Dragon IV Is Coming To The PlayStation 4 And PC In January on Siliconera!

English singer-songwriter George Michael died December 25 at his home in Oxfordshire, reports the BBC. His publicist said he died peacefully. Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, Michael rose to fame as part of the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley, and sold more than 100 million records worldwide, specializing in soulful mainstream pop.

Thames Valley Police said South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13:42 GMT.

Police say they were treating the death as unexplained but there were no suspicious circumstances.

In a statement, the star's publicist said: "It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.

"The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage."

As we come to the end of 2016, we thought there would be no better way to round off the year than to give you guys the opportunity to try out Nier: Automata yourselves. It’s the season for giving, after all, so we’re excited to announce that the Nier: Automata playable demo is available to download from the PlayStation Store for free later today!

The demo takes you to an abandoned factory, following android 2B’s mission to destroy a massive enemy weapon that lies within. You’ll get to use a variety of both short and long range weapons to take down hordes of enemy machines. The combat is action-packed, fast-paced, super slick, and there are multiple difficulties — so once you’ve got the hang of things, you can really test and refine your skills. I’d be very impressed to hear how many of you can complete the demo on the hardest difficulty!

To celebrate the Nier: Automata demo release, we’ve got a new trailer showing off some weapons you might recognize:

Eagle-eyed Square Enix fans have probably already figured out what the new weapons are the Engine Blade — Noctis’ signature weapon in Final Fantasy XV — and the Cypress Stick from the Dragon Quest franchise. They will both be unlockable in the final game so you don’t have to worry about downloading them as additional DLC. We’re going to keep how you obtain them a mystery for now, though.

The news doesn’t stop there though! From today you can also pre-order the Nier: Automata Day One Edition directly from PlayStation Store. In addition to the Day One Edition six bonus DLC items, the PSN digital pre-order edition also comes with an additional three exclusive DLC items and a static theme.

In case you missed the news, we also recently announced the Nier: Automata Black Box Edition which includes a YoRHa android 2B figurine, a 64 page hardback artbook, a soundtrack selection CD (featuring 13 live recorded songs from Nier and Nier: Automata), in-game bonus DLC, a steelbook case, and special collector’s box. It’s available in limited quantities from the Square Enix Store so be sure to pre-order one if you don’t want to miss out.

Nier: Automata tells the story of androids 2B, 9S, and A2, and their battle to reclaim the Earth from powerful enemy machines who have driven humanity from their home. The demo will give you a glimpse of the game’s story, and there’s a lot of spectacular moments with distinct Nier style twists in it, too. I don’t want to spoil any of it for you as they’ll be even more exciting to experience yourself, but I hope the demo gets you hyped to play the full game when it comes out on March 7, 2017.

I think that’s enough news for one day. Hopefully you’ve been able to download the demo so you don’t have to stick around here any longer, go play it and let us know what you think afterwards! Thanks for reading, and from the Nier: Automata team — Happy Holidays!

See you in 2017!

Star Wars star Carrie Fisher suffered a "massive heart attack" Friday while traveling from London to LAX as part of a book tour, reports TMZ. There's no news yet of her condition. Fisher lately reprised her most famous role, Princess Leia Organa, in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and in a striking cameo in Star Wars: Rogue One; her new book is The Princess Diarist. (Photo: Reuters)

Update: The L.A. Times reports that Fisher is in critical condition at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Just prior to arrival, a pilot told the control tower that passengers who were nurses were attending to another “unresponsive” passenger.”

“So they’re working on her right now,” the pilot said in a public recording of the conversation on liveatc.net.

According to the LAX Police Department, officers responded to Terminal 7 around 12:15 p.m., for a call of a female passenger in cardiac arrest. On arrival, they found paramedics performing CPR on the victim, according to Officer Alicia Hernandez.

Update 2: Fisher's brother tells the AP she in stable condition.

Todd Fisher, told The Associated Press that she was "out of emergency" and stabilized at a Los Angeles hospital Friday afternoon. He said he could not discuss any other details about what happened.

https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/812427952235286528

https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/812414500431347713

And experts say alcohol companies target women with messages that promote heavy drinking.

Holidays are the time when many of us get some extra time to catch up on all the good movies and TV shows that our friends wanted us to watch, but we never did. To make things enticing for people, Amazon and Google are prepping for lowering the rent this holiday season. From a report on Fortune: Google and Amazon -- which have been jostling to compete with Netflix in video streaming -- have announced a new online promotion for the holidays. Google Play will allow viewers to select any movie available on the streaming service to rent for $0.99. Amazon Video will allow viewers the same using the promo code "MOVIE99." The catch: Users can only get one movie per account. Both services offer an extensive list of titles, including this year's Suicide Squad, Bridge Jones's Baby, and Finding Dory among others.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

93 Escort Wagon writes: San Francisco bicyclists can breathe a sigh of relief now that Uber has suspended testing of its autonomous fleet in the city. The company announced the decision after the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the registration of the vehicles involved in the testing. Uber remains "100 percent committed to California and will be redoubling our efforts to develop workable statewide rules," the company said. A spokesperson for Uber told Recode, "We are open to having the conversation about applying for a permit, but Uber does not have plans to do so."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Jamie "JWZ" Zawinski was an early Netscape employee; observing that the dotcom bubble that enriched him had gutted the San Francisco arts scene with rising rents, he sank his money into opening the DNA Lounge, which has been a San Francisco institution for nearly 20 years, and has been the location of some of the best times I've ever had in the Bay Area (including numerous EFF fundraisers). (more…)

"Replicants are like any other machine. They're either a benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit, it's not my problem."

In theaters October 6, 2017.

Actor Judge Reinhold was flying out of Dallas Love Field on Thursday and his bag set off an "alarm" on a TSA scanner, so security personnel demanded to pat Reinhold down; Reinhold objected that he'd already passed through the naked scanner and didn't believe he should have to get a government-mandated genital massage as well. Police were called and he was arrested. (more…)

Environmental lawyer-turned-Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick has a cool use for the new SEC rules requiring companies to disclose executive pay starting in 2017: he's going to impose special taxes on businesses where the ratio of CEO pay to median worker pay exceeds 100:1 -- an increase of 10% for 100:1 companies, and 25% for 250:1 companies. (more…)

Production of Castlevania: Remade in Unreal has been brought to a halt due to a C&D order from Konami, but the developer feels there is still hope.

Read Konami Sends Cease & Desist To Developer Of Castlevania Remade In Unreal on Siliconera!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwvjZGKwKvY

In Does The Online Card Payment Landscape Unwittingly Facilitate Fraud?, a new paper in IEEE Security & Privacy, researchers from the University of Newcastle demonstrate a technique for guessing secruity details for credit-card numbers in six seconds -- attackers spread their guesses out across many websites at once, so no website gets enough bad guesses to lock the card or trigger a fraud detection system. (more…)

What happens when a professional cartographer needs a break? For Sasha Trubetskoy, it meant making a map of the Bay Area based on Urban Dictionary entries. Berzerkely, Freakmont, Pathetica, and The Yoch are just a few points of interest. (more…)

The OECD's 2011-2015, 33 country, 215,942-person study of computer skills paints a deceptively grim picture of the average level of computer proficiency around the world -- deceptive because it excludes over-65s, who research shows to be, on average, less proficient than the 16-65 cohort sampled. (more…)

Buses and light rail cars make San Francisco's "Muni" fleet the seventh largest mass transit system in America. But yesterday its arrival-time screens just displayed the message "You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted" -- and all the rides were free, according to a local CBS report shared by RAYinNYC: Inside sources say the system has been hacked for days. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has officially confirmed the hack, but says it has not affected any service... The hack affects employees, as well. According to sources, SFMTA workers are not sure if they will get paid this week. Cyber attackers also hit Muni's email systems. Though the article claims "The transit agency has no idea who is behind it, or what the hackers are demanding in return," Business Insider reports "The attack seems to be an example of ransomware, where a computer system is taken over and the users are locked out until a certain amount of money is sent to the attacker." In addition, they're reporting the attack "reportedly included an email address where Muni officials could ask for the key to unlock its systems." One San Francisco local told CBS, "I think it is terrifying. I really do I think if they can start doing this here, we're not safe anywhere."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.