Valentine's Day

February 14th.Valentine's day.The day that Cupid will have a real busy time if not headache on who to pair up with who.It is on this day,I believe many couples are made,and many couples are unmade too.I haven't been updating my blog for quite some time.Let's just say I don't share my unhappy thoughts here.Backed by Miss popular's demand,Rakoon,I guess I will write something here. It is on this day that I chose to travel down to Sunway to settle some administration work for my electives.I met WS,a friend of mine from primary school,one of the few friends I still keep in constant contact with despite being not of the same school anymore.He currently studying IT while I am pursuing a medical degree.Well,I have a little bit of knowledge on those computer stuff,slightly better than ignorant I will say.Thus,our conversation shifted from topic to topic,we practically chatted for at least 2 hours on matters pertaining to life,relationship,friendship,study and exchanging knowledge.Okay,he is my sifu in computer-related stuff,especially in html. One of the topic that I found it very interesting is about a subject in IT that's deemed Social Engineering,which means hacking in a language we know.Hacking isn't just about typing stuff,trying an error,working out the possiblities,it involves much more than that,deception is one of the best weapons a hacker can have.Sometimes,even the best hacker needs to gain some insights what he is up against.This insight is gained through a series of Q&As done over time with the intended target person divulging things unconciously and unintentionally.It is not wrong to say this hacker is capable of manipulating human minds and making use of psychology.Questions are carefully worded and chosen and answers are divulged unintentionally.Whoah...talk about a lesson on hacking. Let's say for example,I stress example,in Friendster,occasionally we get a bulletin asking us to put our email addresses there with our names,citing the reason to notify friends whether there are any changes in our correspondence emails.Thus,as friends,we will list our email there,adding to the lengthening list of emails on the bulletin.What a spammer can do is sniff out all the emails and names,and add them to the mailing list or more like a spamming list.Voila,with your full name and your email,chances are high that they will be able to pass through your spam filter.They sell the information to people or spammers who want it and in no time,your mail inbox will be full of "valid emails."The most basic of hacking,making use of the obligation of friends to add to the emails list and we the user,blindly submit our information to them.At the end of day,we might still wonder how the hell those spammers get those details.As I say before,this is an example,this is by no mean as to question the security of Friendster.I don't think those sniffers or anything of its like work in there.If they do work,I believe we can google for our friends in Friendster already.This is just an opinion of a non-professional in IT thus it cannot be taken for words for words. I just remembered the conversation I had with the cabbie on my way to Sunway.He seems to be a Buddhist to me,however,what his religion is,is not the question here.Something he said to me made sense,and I thought of sharing it with the people I know here.I will just rephrase his message with my words, "Good is the person if the good things he/she did other people know, Better is the person who did the same and no other people know, Best is the person if the person who did the same and neither the people nor the doer know." Something to think about here on Valentine's day,especially those single souls out there.*Paging for Rakoon....Paging for Rakoon...* On my way back to my condo,I took the KTM Komuter.It has been a while since I last took the KTM Komuter during college years.Heavy feeling of nostalgia.I chose to stand directly in the middle of the train.I always like to observe(read observe,not ogle...believe me or not)the people in the train.Interesting things happen an occasion or two.This time,as I stood in the middle of the train,on my left was a group of 3 deaf/mute people "talking" with each other,and on my right was a group of 7 Mat Salleh talking loudly in a language that was foreign to my ears.I had a hunch it was Spanish though I was not sure how I got to this hunch.Anyway,as I observed their conversations,I noticed something interesting,the deaf/mute group of people were "conversing" using sign language.Whatever they were conversing must be some real good topic,as I observed their facial expressions changing from nodding in agreement,shaking in disagreement,pulling a long face in disatisfaction,smiling at goodness.They were signing to each other very aggressively and I will say,quite animatedly.I assume it is some debates on current affairs.Silent debate but interesting nevertheless. As for the other group of Mat Salleh,they were having quite a hot conversation too,talking loudly or I will rather say rapping aloud(since I can't really make out what they are saying,something like a rap song)interrupted by occasional shouts of surprise or maybe envy by one of them.They are no less animated than the other group of 3.They seem to pride themselves on the fact that nobody knows what they are talking about.I can sense some air of arrogance there. So,there I was, in between the two conversations,between people of different cultures,between people of different languages,between groups of interesting people nevertheless.I turned my attention to the left and I heard a silent debate.I turned my attention to the right and a loud chatter greeted me.You can imagine it,turn left,silent,turn right,loud chatter.Something like a volume knob on the radio. I guess that's all for now,folks.Hope you enjoy this little crap.