Twitter Phishing

Dear readers,

I apologize for the lack of quality and formatting done in this post. I am writing this from my iPhone on the go and I realised I cannot delay telling you all any further.

Seems like a number of people had fallen for this phishing method (including my friends sadly! Don’t let your friends get phished or hacked too! Spread the word!)

The phishing URL is different from usual / the common older style ones as it uses a shortened link, with a name very similar to tinyurl.com (tsk!) the original shortened link is: tnijurl.com/dc0393f329cd/

Here’s the example message to trick you, it reads: “Someone said this real bad thing about you in a blog…”

20110724-092856.jpg

As you can see, there’s no way to tell what that URL actually is at one glance. It will redirect you to:
“http://berichtenversturen.com/twitter-login/” with the following page:

20110724-093324.jpg

Although the page might look exactly like a twitter login page, it’s not. Look at the URL. Don’t get fooled. Do NOT log in! Do NOT!

Careful when clicking shortened links that requires you to log in anywhere. Always check the URL on your browser when you are logging in somewhere! Your credentials might be compromised! If you were phished/fooled and had logged in, I recommend changing your password immediately.

Also useful: http://www.justprofessionals.net/2011/07/new-twitter-phishing-scam-preys-on-curiosity-about-criticism/

Why do you take pictures?

Because I am hungry and alone, with no food at sight, I started to ponder on a lot of things I do.

Photography – one of my major non-sport hobby that I update more than all other hobbies. Why?

Have you seen a photo studio tagline? Most of them talk about ‘capturing moments’ which is why we take pictures, really. I have a birthday, papa comes and takes lots and lots of picture to remember, so that we could look back and go ‘Ah! Look how happy she looks! Look how pretty she was!’

I am unable to do that. Let me emphasise that. I am UNABLE to CAPTURE MOMENTS. I am serious. It might be because I lack skills, my dad is the one that is really good in capturing moments!

But, I like telling stories. I like sharing and listening to stories. Yours, mine, hers, his, whatever. I love listening to past experiences and current happenings. It is interesting to understand what others are feeling. I want people to understand me too. And that’s why I’m taking pictures. It’s less of a ‘I am happy so let me show you a flower’ but more of a ‘I get <this feeling> when I took this picture and when I came here. This picture will tell you that, because I’m lazy to write an essay on <this feeling> and picture tells a thousand words,’

That’s it. I want people to see what I see, to understand what I understand, to feel what I feel. I don’t know when was the time I started to have this kind of habit, but it’s been stickin’. I don’t know why too. I wonder who I got this trait from?

That Category.

I was checking and looking around facebook (as usual) when I found my friend’s blog screenshot in my news feed. She was wondering what category her blog should fall in; in the end, she decided it will be ‘Lifestyle & Fashion’ as that is what most of her posts are about (shopping, food, what she bought, etc.).

That made me think a little; what about my blog? I don’t think there’s a formal category for ‘random ramblings’. Also, I didn’t know how my random ramblings are categorised. I’m bad at these stuff. After all, I started writing not long ago, and I am still pretty gweeeen. That was, until I google-d “Filamern” and saw a reply from this blog I visited not so long ago – Myindo.com .

A little bit about myindo.com. I loved it. Sure, maybe the design wasn’t the best you can have in the intrawebs, and maybe there are ads. But the articles, the way she wrote it had less hate, more opinions, written in such a way that no offences were intended! I liked it. It was simple and easy to digest as well!

I signed the guestbook, and the owner replied! (Yay <3) This is what she commented:

FAIRY
Hi FILAMERN , thanks for dropping by. You’ve got a pretty good social commentary blog as well. Keep on writing!2-Sep-2010, 01:05 MYT

That was how I know what my ramblings were; (maybe) social commentaries. Because English is like my, 3rd or 4th language, I had to look “Social Commentaries” up and get its proper definition. Did it match what I was doing? Pretty much.

Thanks FAIRY for telling me ;)


Puzzle.

Just because you figured you’re different with another person, doesn’t mean you wouldn’t fit with that person/have a good relation with that particular person.

Okay, it’s another case if you don’t want to, but it’s another case if you do want to!

Differences, they are really the one that helps you in ‘learning’. Or that is, in my opinion.

By differences and diversities, we learn, and experience.

Without differences and diversities, our mind/brain would be narrow, or some people call ‘em, narrow-minded.

Why? Because; you think (I hope you do) when you were faced with differences. ‘Why does s/he think that way?’ — by that you experience several types of thinking.

Of course, environment, background, life experiences plays a part on how a personality and habit work (I’ll spare the genotypes outta here, and just talk about phenotypes fer now).

But hey, what do you aim in life really? Like, what is it do you really want to know? I always ask myself world’s biggest questions and sometimes its just no good. I think too much!

That aside;

Life is like a puzzle. You find several pieces and try to get a picture.

Relations between people are like puzzle pieces. There are a number of puzzle pieces out there. Each puzzle pieces would be different, can be different, can also be similar/exactly the same.

The difference in puzzle pieces don’t actually break those individual pieces when put together properly. When put together properly, those differences would actually be a strong relation between two different/slight different individual pieces of puzzles.

What about those similar or same ones? Relation would be there, just that the ‘attachment’ or relation wouldn’t be as strong.

What I’m saying is; sometimes, you do need to  have differences with other people in order to bond well. But please, don’t let those differences be an obstacle for you to experience and learn.

It’s okay to be different, it’s okay to accept different things.

If we were to follow the same path for 1000 years, when will human civilization improve? Everyone have different ideas and opinions and perspective. Those would actually let you see more.

Or at least that’s how I see it.

So, sometimes I really don’t understand why a person would so strongly be against cross-cultural relations between humans.

Maybe one day I’ll understand.

Maybe they were just afraid of failure (there’s no doubt there would be failure with your puzzle, where you might force a different piece so much that it breaks).

Or Maybe, they don’t want the wrong things to happen, too risky. Thus, sticking to the conventional ways would bring out guaranteed result.

Humans are complex beings, with complex patterns.

Even you reading my blog right now, do you really understand me? Personality changes. Some stay, some moves to a better personality, to suit an environment.

Confusing. Life is a puzzle.

And that statement ‘puzzle’ can be applied in so many ways.

Life is a puzzle, because we need to arrange and get a picture of our life.

Life is a puzzle, in terms of relations.

Life is a puzzle, because it’s just simply puzzling.

Life is a puzzle, because you need to put pieces together when it’s broken.

Life is a puzzle, insert your own reasons here, and so on.

Ali Yakubov – The Koran/Qur’an skin mystery.

Have you guys read about this?

Ali Yakubov - from russiatoday.com

Ali Yakubov - from russiatoday.com

I am baffled. I read this in news.com.au, but we don’t know the ‘truth’ behind this yet. People are wondering whether its the work of their parents, or it was really verses from the Qur’an/Koran appearing on Ali Yakubov’s skin without any manipulation from parents or some sort.

I will quote a few sentences from certain sources (I read up quite a bit from various sites), here’s the one from dailymail/UK.

Miracle or hoax? Russians puzzled as phrases

from the Koran start appearing ‘spontaneously’

on baby’s skin


That article together with thesun article (the one that has been quoted for Alfie Patten) as well, were probably the two most quoted article.

The parents of nine-month-old Ali Yakubov were stunned when the word Allah appeared on his chin soon after his birth.

Since then scores of writings in Arabic script have emerged on his back, arms, legs and stomach.

Amazingly his family claim the old markings vanish before the new words arrive — twice a week.

Personally, the article that I really love, would be from russiatoday[dot]com. It may seem a bit biased (but God, which Media AREN’T?!), but I liked it because it is the only one so far (that I have found) to state these information (which I couldn’t really find in a lot of news media) :

Meanwhile, doctors think otherwise. They are almost sure the signs have been written by Ali’s parents.

Lyudmila Luss from Russia’s institute of immunology says the writings have been most likely made physically or chemically.

“Substances like pepper or salt can produce such a reaction on the skin,” she says. It can also be a result of urticarious dermographism, she added, which is a skin disorder seen in 4–5% of the population. The skin then becomes raised and inflamed when stroked or rubbed with a dull object.

So far, Ali’s family has refused to make any meticulous dermatologic examination. In the meantime, Russian media report that Ali was initially diagnosed with coronary heart disease and cerebral spastic infantile paralysis, but when his abnormalities began he miraculously recovered.


Read more from Russiatoday : http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-10-19/signs-allah-infant-skin.html

and more : http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/10/koran-verses-appear-on-babys-skin-ali-always-feels-bad-when-it-is-happening-he-cries-and-his-tempera.html

on an unrelated note: The baby is so cute!

ali - www.russiatoday.com

ali - www.russiatoday.com

So, is it true? We don’t know yet – there aren’t any proof at the moment, but only speculations so far. People over the internets have been saying that it might be the work of their parents, but some also claim that it IS a sign from Allah. What do you think?

Personally, for me, this is really awesome. My friends were freaked out, but, I don’t know. It is probably till now I am still a freethinker (with my dad), and we do question world’s biggest questions often. Religion, how it started, lineage, history, mysterious events, other realms, ghosts, devils, demons, etc.

So, If there really IS a sign (which is proven true that those signs on Ali appeared without any manipulation from the parents), I would be amazed, and would probably jump into reading researches that people will make regarding Ali.

If it’s false, or a hoax, or even, by Ali’s parents, shame on you parents, (for getting my hopes up) and for doing that to your beautiful baby’s skin.

I guess we have to wait for more information from Russia to tell us what’s really happening. And whether they have seen it happen (I guess they will wait on Thursday – Friday night for the real sighting of it appearing, man, I think someone would actually videotape it and upload on youtube). Poor baby, getting all the media attention in such a young age.

Honestly, I hope this is not a hoax, and verses are indeed appearing. Would be another extra piece of information for freethinkers like me to consider.

UPDATE : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33425758/ns/world_news-europe/

Pinkish in color and several centimeters high, the Koranic verse “Be thankful or grateful to Allah” was printed on the infant’s right leg in clearly legible Arabic script this week, religious leaders said. Visiting foreign journalists later saw a single letter after the rest had vanished.

“Minta Tolong” – show

To you people out there who might not be familiar with Indonesian TV shows, there’s this particular show called “minta tolong” – it literally mean “to ask for help”.

Basically in this entire show, they assign this young kid (I’m still wondering why it’s always a female young girl)  (there used to be more female adults and old women, more kids nowadays, and it’s still always women) around the age of 11 or 12 to try and raise money by selling things (ranging from random things such as files to worms).

The young girl would then walk around the town/city to find people that are willing to help her by (usually) buying her stuff. Today, she was selling worms. Most people were grossed out… but but! The girl today was pretty cute, she kinda joked a lot throughout the show. I saw lots of happy and laughing faces when she cracked a joke. I can sort of feel the others kinda liked her too. She had this charm and humor that made even grumpy people laugh.

Overall, the show is based on a “help people with a sincere heart” and you’ll get rewarded sort of concept. Anyone that helps the kid in whatever she needs (she sells stuff 200% more expensive!) would be repay’d by a certain huge amount of rupiahs (1 million rupiahs, I think. It’s quite a big amount in Indonesia).

Well, my problem with the show (other than exploitation of children to make them act and everything while they are pretty poor, and make viewer sympathize more because of their age) is the fact that it’s made in Indonesia. Well, thing is. I had enough of 8 year old conning me back in Bali. We were too soft. A bunch of kids approached my family and asked for money, they were saying it’s for school and books. (a bunch of them, around 5 to 7 of them). So, looking at they are kids and everything, we did give them around five thousand rupiahs. I know that ain’t much in most developed countries, but trust me, it is quite a lot in Indonesia.

…we gave 5k to each of the kids, and they came telling us it’s not enough and wanted twenty thousand rupiahs. I rolled my eyes, so did my mum. I told them I’ll buy the books for them instead, and they just shook their head and asked for money. Obvious conning is obvious. I walked another 5 meters, a bunch of kids tried pushing postcards to me. I seriously hate it when they use kids to do all these stuff to gain sympathy. They even have agencies that specializes in these. ARGH.

There were also incidents where they used kids that were crying for help saying they got lost and separated from their parents, and when you help that kid, you… actually get trapped and cornered by robbers.

With all those incidents happening in Indonesia, how many people would actually help? They would probably think whether the kid is really asking for help, or, they would be thinking whether the kid would actually drag them to hell/robber pits.

It’s a good concept show, but I doubt it’s suited for Indonesia if the mission of the show is to see how nice/evil Indonesians are towards not so lucky citizens. Some Indonesians abused sympathy to much, it is now very hard to discern between whether they really need help, or they have an ulterior motives that might cost you your life or health.

But, if the show is aiming for viewership and that alone, I couldn’t care less (but I still hate the fact it made some people look as if they are bad, when they are just wondering whether the girl was a liar – this can be seen by them asking whether the girl’s really buying books with the money).

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