Monthly Archives: August 2016

Photography

Intersections: Anila Quayyum Agha

Image Leave a comment

We went to the Peabody Essex Museum recently to see the Rodin exhibit and found this single room Intersections exhibit:

Intersections: Anila Quayyum Agha

Their website describes it as:

Intersections: Anila Quayyum Agha is an immersive single room installation that bathes the visitor in a geometric array of light and shadow. Inspired by traditional Islamic architectural motifs, Pakistani-American artist Anila Quayyum Agha’s laser-cut steel lantern conjures the design of the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, a historic site of cross-cultural intersection where a thousand years ago Islamic and Western cultures thrived in coexistence. Agha, an internationally renowned, award-winning artist, creates mixed media works that engage topics ranging from global politics and cultural multiplicity, to mass media and gender roles.

Here is a slide show of all of the pictures I took:

Intersections: Anila Quayyum Agha

Site Status, Web/Tech

Downloading your images from Typepad

Leave a comment

The transition from Typepad to WordPress has been a bit haphazard, but I should have finally removed most of the references.

One of the things you need to move over are the images Typepad hosts for you. Unless they are in a photo album, they will be in the <your user id>.typepad.com/.a/ directory.  To get them, export the contents of your Typepad blog and save it.  It will be saved as Unnamed_Comet_Asset.txt.

Once I had that file, I used this Bash script (on a Unix OS) to generate another script to get the files. Be sure to replace <your user id> with your Typepad id.

#!/bin/bash
sed -n ‘s/.*\(http:\/\/<your user id>.typepad.com\/\.a\/[a-z0-9]*-[0-9]*si\).*/wget \1/p’ Unnamed_Comet_Asset.txt > wget.sh
sed -n ‘s/.*\(http:\/\/<your user id>.typepad.com\/\.a\/[a-z0-9]*-[0-9]*wi\).*/wget \1/p’ Unnamed_Comet_Asset.txt >> wget.sh
sed -n ‘s/.*\(http:\/\/<your user id>.typepad.com\/\.a\/[a-z0-9]*-pi\).*/wget \1/p’ Unnamed_Comet_Asset.txt >> wget.sh
chmod 755 wget.sh

It is possible that there are other types of files whose filenames do not end with -*si, -*wi or -pi but those seemed to work for me.  Search through Unnamed_Comet_Asset.txt if you want to be sure.

Once wget.sh is generated, look it over and make sure that it looks right, then run it:

./wget.sh

It will dutifully download all of your images.  I copied them over to a .a directory on my hosting provider then updated the references to in the blog posts.  Ideally, you should do it in a copy of Unnamed_Comet_Asset.txt, then import it into your site.

You will need to run this script for each blog you have hosted at Typepad.  Be sure to have a different directory for each blog so that you don’t overwrite either script.

I have a script for getting all of the files from your Photo Albums that I will post about in the future.

Computer Security, Spontaneous Ideas

GoPro as computer virus infection vector

Leave a comment

I came up with an idea of using a GoPro to infect someone’s computer with a virus.  A quick search didn’t turn up anything specifically about it, though GoPros have been hacked to be surveillance devices:

For what it is worth, the idea is below.

Why

Your target is someone who has decent computer security procedures.  Doesn’t trust random USB sticks, keeps OS up to date with security patches, has good passwords.

What is needed

  1. A person to appear to be assaulted.  Considering a GoPro is involved, a bicyclist would be ideal. The person assaulted has to be someone the target will identify with and want to help;
  2. One or more people to assault the first person. My guess is that it would work better if they were police or appeared to be police;
  3. A hacked GoPro that can infect the target’s computer both via the SD card and the firmware via the USB port;
  4. A tote to encourage the target to take the GoPro and report the assault.

The process

  1. Stage the assault where very few people can witness it, but the target will be;
  2. Person assaulted wears the GoPro on a hat (or more likely helmet) and records the assault;
  3. Person assaulted is taken away, but the hat/helmet with the GoPro is knocked off the person’s head and left behind;
  4. Target, seeing the assault picks up the GoPro, takes it home. If target is reluctant to take it home, tote encourages them;
  5. Once home, target plugs in the SD card or GoPro via USB and is infected.

Not to say that this method will always be successful, but it could work for certain targets. Something to keep in mind if you think you could be a target.

So if any Hollywood studios, spy agencies or criminals want to use it, renumeration is not expected, but attribution is always appreciated.

Miniatures, When Imagination Fails

Posted 1/2400 Post-WW2 Naval Miniature Pictures

Image 3 Comments

I have steadily gathered a cache of pictures that I have now archived for your reference and viewing pleasure. Eventually, I will put them in a useful browser order using s jolly H4‘s comprehensive list.

Finding pictures of miniatures, painted or not, via searches tends to turn up very few pictures. The best sources tend to be the few blogs of modern naval miniatures players (av8rmongo being a good one) or people selling them on eBay. The most prolific purveyor of said painted miniatures is gak8346. One of which is shown above.

If you want to share pictures with the collection, would like attribution for your picture, or want me to take your picture down, email me at jokeefe at jamesokeefe dot org.

Government, News, Pirate Party, Politics

Interviewed by the Weekly Dig about Galvin, third parties and real FOIA reform

Leave a comment

I was recently interviewed by the Weekly Dig about Secretary of State Galvin’s statement that a vote for a third party is a waste. Obviously I disagree with him. You should read the whole article, but here is a choice quote:

“Massachusetts needs the breath of fresh air that only third parties can provide … We need a government that automatically puts public records on the web, where the public can easily find and review them. We need a government that carries out the people’s business in sunlight, not behind closed doors.”