http://www.dbskeptic.com Skepticism. Critical thinking. Podcast. Community. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:54:54 +0000 en-us hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Digital Bits Skeptic brings skepticism and critical thinking to a world of new age, religion and credulous pop culture. Andy Kaiser clean Andy Kaiser skeptic@dbskeptic.com skeptic@dbskeptic.com (Andy Kaiser) 2009 Skepticism and critical thinking in a world of new age, religion and credulous pop culture skeptic, skepticism, critical thinking, new age, religion, pop culture, skeptical articles, critical thinking articles, philosophy http://www.dbskeptic.com/images/dbskeptic-logo-144.jpg http://www.dbskeptic.com/category/technology/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2010/06/01/the-myth-of-computer-security/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2010/06/01/the-myth-of-computer-security/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:09:23 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=2019 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2010/06/01/the-myth-of-computer-security/feed/ 28 Andy Kaiser by Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1411 - "The computer: an extension of the human intellect. ...soon, the ultimate tool will become the ultimate enemy." - Tron (1982) Greetings, programs! - Let me tell you about a myth, a story, by Andy Kaiser Article ID: 1411 "The computer: an extension of the human intellect. ...soon, the ultimate tool will become the ultimate enemy." - Tron (1982) Greetings, programs! Let me tell you about a myth, a story, a fable that’s been concocted and perpetuated by certain groups in the media. It’s a story about how – with proper protection – your computer is immune to cyber attacks, viruses and other malware. That’s the story but it’s not true. I’m talking about the myth of computer security. There’s no conspiracy here, just unprepared software. Microsoft and various security companies are doing their best against the bad guys, who are attacking faster and more creatively than the good guys can keep up. The days of the independent lone hacker are gone. They’re still around, of course, but the brunt of the malware industry is focused at a much higher level, where the bad guys are multinational groups, or are sponsored by enemy governments, or are run by organized crime syndicates. So yes, there is a war. And the good guys are not winning. With increased complexity comes increased chance of failure The problem is that the methods of computer attack are so advanced, we need extremely complex software to protect against them. It’s so complex that security software sometimes causes more problems than it’s worth. In May of 2010, the “Sunbelt Vipre Enterprise” antivirus software released updated versions of their malware protection, which they do multiple times per day. However, the update versions 6272, 6273 and 6274 caused the PC CPU to max out, essentially making the computer inoperable. The fix was to kill the Vipre process long enough to install the quickly-released patch, often requiring a system reboot. That’s not too bad, right? It could be worse. It could be, for example, like what happened in April 2010 with the McAfee VirusScan Enterprise product’s recent update version 5958. That update mistakenly identified a critical system process as being a virus. The result is that affected computers would crash and bluescreen and would no longer boot. The fix usually required a few minutes of physical access to the PC. Some unlucky users had to reinstall Windows. I’m picking on these companies because they were recently in the news at the time I wrote this article. I can easily blame other antivirus products as well. In fact, I love McAfee VirusScan Enterprise – I’ve personally recommended it to and set it up for many of my clients. Same with Sunbelt’s Vipre Enterprise – in fact, that’s my employer’s current software of choice. They’re good products. But the very nature of what they’re meant to fix makes them complex, more invasive and unstable. [Author's edit: Many readers took the above to mean that I endorse or recommend all versions of McAfee. Not true. I hate the preinstalled and retail McAfee junk. But the corporate-level, partner-resold McAfee software – "McAfee VirusScan Enterprise" is a good product, and is something a home user would never see. This is the only McAfee product I like. Unlike their bloated, ugly home versions, VSE is lightweight, has a tiny footprint, is super-functional and customizable, and is easily managed. My goal in writing this section was not to recommend any AV package over another, but just to illustrate that no solution works really well, and all are open to self-inflicted damage.] Remember that in the above cases with Vipre and McAfee, I’m not talking about single PCs in someone’s home. I’m talking about centralized networks of hundreds or thousands of computers. How would you like to be an IT admin that day, when you realize that one thousand of the computers you are responsible for are completely out of commission? Phishing and user tricks The previous examples are just problems where our protection fails us. But there is yet another class of malware, the kind that either tricks the user into installing it, Andy Kaiser clean 14:18 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/06/12/the-ideomotor-effect/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/06/12/the-ideomotor-effect/#comments Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:25:50 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=1126 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/06/12/the-ideomotor-effect/feed/ 7 M Parrott By M Parrott Article ID: 1326 - The ideomotor effect is a psychological accident that spans many new age traditions, séances, and other "woo-woo" practises. I must emphasise that these practises aren't faked intentionally. By M Parrott Article ID: 1326 The ideomotor effect is a psychological accident that spans many new age traditions, séances, and other "woo-woo" practises. I must emphasise that these practises aren't faked intentionally. People delude themselves into believing they are true. Examples of the ideomotor effect cover a wide range of supernatural games, from Victorian-era séances to examining the most harmoniously-vibrating new age crystal. The ideomotor effect and the Ouija board Ah, yes, one of the most popular séance tools! Today, Ouija boards are usually perceived more as a joke and a fun party game. We all know the basic principal and layout of the most common Ouija boards - you've got a flat board with letters of the alphabet printed on it: You've got a "planchette", which is a small pointing device that can be slid around the board. Participants put their hands on the planchette and concentrate on a particular problem, question or spirit communication. The planchette will then start to move towards particular letters or symbols on the Ouija board, giving you a response to your question. If you want to test this out as we go, it would be a great exercise and far superior to me just talking to you: 1) Get 26 small sheets of paper. Write the letters A-Z on the pieces. 2) Get a large table and remove any coverings (like tablecloths). 3) Place all the cards face up in a circle so it looks somewhat like the picture you see here. Candles are optional. 4) Get a strong wine glass (preferably one without wine inside). Turn it upside down and place it in the centre of the cards. And there you have a homemade Ouija board. The next steps work better if you have more than one person, however you can try it alone if you want to tempt the Powers of Darkness all by yourself. Turn one letter over so it's face down. Place two fingers on the wine glass. Concentrate. Focus on believing that the wine glass WILL definitely move towards that one letter turned upside down. Don't move your hand intentionally, but if the glass moves move with it. Keep concentrating. It will move if you concentrate. And it'll speed up towards the letter and when it gets there it will stop at the letter. Now that may not have worked for all of you, but it will have worked for some. I also apologise if the wine glass shot off the table and smashed. If so, that just means you are really easy to manipulate. Now you may be wondering how that worked and why the glass moved. You know for a fact you didn't move the glass. So how did it move? Through a genuine spirit! Nah, just messing with you. The movement happens because of the ideomotor effect. The ideomotor is the mechanism which makes your reflexes kick in when your knee is tapped gently with a doctor's hammer. But in this case what happens is, due to you focusing so much mental power on something, your body makes it physically happen. You may not think you are doing it, but you are, and the more you are convinced it is going to happen, the faster it happens. Which is why a Ouija board "works" better for people who use one more often. What evidence do I have for this? Easy: find a medium who will do the Ouija board blind-folded. Blindfold them, and then without telling them, turn the Ouija board around. As the "Ouijing" commences, the medium will move the planchette to the locations that they think the letters are, as if the board was rotated correctly. This shows the Ouija board is all in the user's mind, and that it isn't some spiritual communion. Ouija boards aren't the only evidence of the ideomotor effect in new age superstitions. Dowsing Dowsing is traditionally thought of as the process of finding underground water or oil using Y-shaped sticks or wire. To a large extent, this is the process. But dowsing has widened its spectrum of effect. A few years ago, I saw a dowser trying to find human remains on a British Archaeology programme called "Time Team". Andy Kaiser clean 11:07 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/14/orgone-chips-review-new-age-versus-the-scientific-method/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/14/orgone-chips-review-new-age-versus-the-scientific-method/#comments Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:46:35 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=706 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/14/orgone-chips-review-new-age-versus-the-scientific-method/feed/ 11 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser - - Article ID: 138 - Orgone is a magical energy force that's inside and outside our bodies. You can think of orgone as the Chinese culture's "chi" or any generic "life force energy". It permeates us and everything around us. By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 138 Orgone is a magical energy force that's inside and outside our bodies. You can think of orgone as the Chinese culture's "chi" or any generic "life force energy". It permeates us and everything around us. Using ... Andy Kaiser clean 17:47 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/01/18/drm-is-failure-in-action/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/01/18/drm-is-failure-in-action/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 03:57:54 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/?p=615 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/01/18/drm-is-failure-in-action/feed/ 6 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 133 - I was born in 1975. The media of my childhood consisted of cassette tapes and VHS tapes. Only years later did I get to play with CDs and DVDs. I was also born during that magical time when one could still find a functio... By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 133 I was born in 1975. The media of my childhood consisted of cassette tapes and VHS tapes. Only years later did I get to play with CDs and DVDs. I was also born during that magical time when one could still find a functioning 8-track cassette player, or cumbersome 8-inch reel-to-reel tape players. Convenient they were not. But with any of them you could still easily break copyright law. This certainly isn't just within my generation. My dad has told me stories from his college days, when he would illegally record someone's music on to his analog reel-to-reel tape recorder. Copyright violations have always been possible, even easy, but not until CDs brought us digital audio was copyright theft so fast. A copy and paste technique is all that's needed to give my music to you. Today, we can email music, download bittorrent collections, acquire illegal movies and software in minutes or even seconds. This speed advantage is a major reason why certain agencies are so upset. In particular are their legal representatives, the MPAA and the RIAA (these are the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America). DRM stands for "digital rights management". In the old days, this was called "copy protection". DRM is copy protection for digital products. It's often a software restriction or a type of encryption. It's intended to prevent the unauthorized copying of the music on your iPod, the movies in your DVD collection, the ebooks in your ebook reader, the programs on your computer, and any other digital media you've purchased. The big problem is that DRM doesn't work. Every mass-distributed DRM scheme has been compromised - every single one. If you want to copy one of your "uncopyable" DVDs or other media, yes, there are plenty of tools to do so. DRM hurts the consumer: it penalizes people who have legitimately purchased their media. And since DRM is compromised so easily and quickly, those who want to break the law can still easily do so. If this is a deterrent, it's a remarkably ineffectual one. You may accuse me of taking the side of the consumer because I don't stand to lose anything from having people steal copywritten material. Actually, I do stand to lose. I have multiple websites that make money from the content they provide. I've written some fiction ebooks and sell those online. And I have no DRM or limited-use mechanism in place. I made this decision intentionally, for three reasons: 1) Today's technology is beyond the point where DRM is practical. Content protection schemes inconvenience those who legitimately have a product, and are just a tiny speed bump to those who want an illegal copy. 2) The Internet has changed the availability and presentation of media, and copying (legally or illegally) is commonplace. The days of visiting a library to access a rare book are fading into the past. The previously rare books are now online for everyone to see. Everything is coming online. Everything is getting easier and easier to access. 3) The cost of digital media should be very low, and is therefore less likely to be pirated. Take ebooks as an example: when you purchase a traditional book, a part of that cost is for the creation of the book itself. The book has to be physically printed, bound, warehoused and distributed. This is a majority percentage of a book's price tag. Ebooks have a very low (or zero) cost for physical media. Yes, the artist and their representatives should get paid for their efforts. One reason piracy happens is because the cost of an object is perceived as unfair, and not worth the price. The actual production cost of digital media is very, very low. The final prices should reflect that. The intent of DRM - protecting the interests of copyright holders - is a noble idea. But it's also archaic and easily circumvented. Unfortunately, it will take time for those in power to recognize this. Andy Kaiser clean 8:35 http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/02/24/human-static-electricity-generators-can-a-persons-body-generate-static-electricity/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/02/24/human-static-electricity-generators-can-a-persons-body-generate-static-electricity/#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:50:02 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/02/24/human-static-electricity-generators-can-a-persons-body-generate-static-electricity/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/02/24/human-static-electricity-generators-can-a-persons-body-generate-static-electricity/feed/ 140 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 125 - Is your body a static electricity generator? Do you produce static electricity, shocking everything you touch? Do watches, computers and other electronics behave differently for you than for other people? By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 125 Is your body a static electricity generator? Do you produce static electricity, shocking everything you touch? Do watches, computers and other electronics behave differently for you than for other people? Is every handshake a shocking experience? It's understandable this super-power can be frustrating, perhaps dangerous. It's at least a major inconvenience. However, before you assume your body can generate static electricity using methods unexplainable and unknown to science, you should first look at your environment. Why? Static electricity is everywhere. And under the right conditions, it's easy to generate. A case study is reported in The Daily Mall about Mavis Price, the "super-charged grandmother whose touch BLOWS UP kettles". As we read the story, we find the author embellished the facts a bit, beginning with the title itself. But no matter, let's examine the story as presented: "Mavis Price, since the 1950s, has had the unusual ability to generate electricity in her body. Her first experience with this ability began, in her words, when she "plugged in a television set and ended up blowing up the television and flying across the room." Her static electricity generation symptoms include: She can't use a computer, as her static-creating ability interferes with them. As she says in the article: "I went on an IT course, but it was a nightmare because every time I touched the computer it would either freeze or shut down." Her household appliances have a very short lifespan. As the article says: "She estimates she has destroyed 15 kettles in the last few years. Housework has also become a problem, with 20 irons and ten vacuum cleaners biting the dust after falling foul of her apparently supercharged touch." The symptoms aren't confined only to her house. The article gives several examples of her being outside of home and experiencing shocks and higher-than-usual static electricity buildup. The "facts" are either largely subjective or unverifiable, but it's clear Ms. Price does have problems with static electricity. How to generate static electricity How does a human body generate static electricity? There are many factors increasing static electricity generation, including: Wearing certain clothing (including shirts, jackets, pants and shoes). Wool, rubber, fleece, vinyl and synthetic materials increase the effect. Having a house without grounded outlets, or having a house with bad wiring Walking a certain way. Shuffling and dragging one's feet will increase electrostatic buildup. The humidity of where one lives. The lower the humidity, the better the conditions are for static generation. As well as general humidity, having unusually dry skin may increase the ability to store static electricity. Most any time an object moves against another object. The object types and surrounding environment will determine how much static electricity is generated. As anyone with a balloon knows, it's very easy to do, as in these simple science lab experiments involving static electricity. Testing people for static electricity generation and dispersal Let's assume the electrostatic generation ability is true as reported. Or at least, assume the symptoms are true, and that Mavis Price generates more static electricity than a normal person. This is the fun part. We get to test. 1) Get a multimeter. This will allow us to not only measure the static buildup in her body, but also measure the "zap" when she touches a grounded piece of metal. It would be interesting to see if the measurement is truly beyond any normal person's ability to generate static electricity, or if another person in the same conditions can produce the same measurements. 2) Strip Ms. Price naked. ...Okay, maybe that's a little extreme, and probably not very appreciated by Ms. Price herself. However, clothing greatly contributes to static electricity buildup. Particularly footwear. Andy Kaiser clean http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/01/30/oprah-plug-in-your-toaster-most-appliances-dont-use-energy-when-turned-off/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/01/30/oprah-plug-in-your-toaster-most-appliances-dont-use-energy-when-turned-off/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:46:54 +0000 Andy Kaiser http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/01/30/oprah-plug-in-your-toaster-most-appliances-dont-use-energy-when-turned-off/ http://www.dbskeptic.com/2008/01/30/oprah-plug-in-your-toaster-most-appliances-dont-use-energy-when-turned-off/feed/ 37 Andy Kaiser By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 122 - On April 20, 2007, Oprah had her Earth Day episode, “Going Green 101: Resources for your family”. - This was a show about energy savings and environmental friendliness. It included tips like using washable cloth napkins... By Andy Kaiser Article ID: 122 On April 20, 2007, Oprah had her Earth Day episode, “Going Green 101: Resources for your family”. This was a show about energy savings and environmental friendliness. It included tips like using washable cloth napkins rather than throwing away paper napkins, and using compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs) rather than incandescents. These are good tips that certainly make sense in the long run for anyone concerned about saving electricity and improving the environment. However, several minutes were spent on the show talking about something I'd classify as misinformation, or to be more blunt, just plain wrong. This of course happens all the time with any media organization. No one can be expected to be 100% accurate, and when the media gets it wrong, consumers have an obligation to speak out. The alternative leads to shoddy journalism: we get reporting with no fact-checking, or unchecked sensationalist reporting. Making claims for the environment or consumer protection becomes even worse if the facts aren't even right, since misinformation will only spread. This article answers the following questions: Do household appliances use 40% of our electricity costs, even when turned off? Will changing to incandescent lights save $50 on an electric bill? How much electricity do household appliances use? How much money does my appliance cost to operate? The first two questions were specific issues raised during the show, and are cultural assumptions people spread without any fact checking. The last two questions are often asked when you learn the answers to the first two. In order to begin answering these questions, I needed two things: First, I needed to know how much electricity costs. Looking at my latest energy bill was the answer: I'm billed just over nine cents per kilowatt hour. For simplicity, I've rounded this up to ten cents per kilowatt hour. It costs me about $0.10 for every 1000 watts running for one hour. Second, I needed a way to measure the wattage that a particular device uses. My tool of choice was the Kill-O-Watt P4460 Electricity Usage Monitor. This is a small box that you plug into a wall socket. Then you plug a device into the Kill-O-Watt. Then the Kill-O-Watt will tell you, among other things, how many watts are being consumed, and how much money that device costs to power. With this information, we're set to address the first question: Do household appliances use 40% of our electricity costs, even when turned off? Here's dialog from the show: Simran Sethi (an environmental expert):  ...what we often have is we're drawing a lot of energy when we have products plugged in, appliances plugged in but not actually have them on. Oprah:  We all know that, right? That when the toasters plugged and the coffeemaker's plugged in, it's drawing energy even if you're not using it. Simran Sethi:  About forty percent of the power even though we're not using it. So we're spending all this money to power things that are on in the off position. Oprah: We did not know that. Isn't this a big lesson? Okay. This is great. Yeah, I’ve started doing that, unplugging the toaster, because it's drawing about forty. I didn't know it was forty percent. Simran Sethi: We call it vampire standby power. Oprah: And the TV and all the things that are plugged in are drawing energy. Simran Sethi:  Exactly. The case has been stated pretty clearly: Not only are appliances costing us 40% of our electric bill, but many devices use a considerable amount of energy even when turned off. Based on the context of the discussion, they're talking about small appliances like TVs and toasters, not refrigerators or ovens. So let's test. Armed with the Kill-O-Watt, I went around my house and measured the wattage consumption for most of my small appliances, including the ones mentioned above. Click the below links to download in full detail, or read on for the summary. Andy Kaiser clean