Got this in my inbox. The spam filter must have thought that it was helping me by not flagging this as spam ;)
============
Subject: Hey you ! Blind date on hold fw
Hey there bad boy! !! !!!
Hope you remember me! Erika!!!!
It’s been a while I know , but how funny, here I am again hehe!
Well well , I left to South America for 3 months. Me and the girls did a bunch of crazy stuff. Wanna see my pics, I’ve only got about 1000 of them!. Three of us got implants hehe!.
Ok OK!
See search for nickname: WetDesire
============
The link was to a website on geocities.com
Almost believed it ;)
,
,
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Where is clean comedy?
Androidparanoid complained that most stand-up comedy shows do not have any clean comedy in them here
This is what he says about one particular show:
* 60% of it was on sex or sex related.
* 35% of it was on the race, origin, ethnicity... most of it derogatory.
* remaining was what I would say normal jokes.
I agree completely. My issues with comedy not being clean and above the belt started in my undergrad years. Being very active in the inter-college competition scene, I would take part in numerous public speaking competitions and also would try to participate (and try to win) in stage competitions like 'Mad-Ads' etc.
But...but ...but alas, to win in stage competitions like MadAds, one HAD to be dirty. All the jokes had to be below the belt or at best on the belt. No clean funny jokes! And the worse part is that the audience and the judges enjoyed such stuff ! The fact that the judges were also students or from a comparable age group segment did really influence the way these competitions were judged and what it took to win in them.
I believed that to be able to be above the belt required real talent and a great sense of humour. To make jokes which were not clean was the easiest thing to do. I tried at times to win a prize based on clean jokes, but that never happened. I also grouped up with the best teams of other colleges to learn how to go about this whole thing, but would then drop out since all their jokes would be dirty.
For example, lets take the popular humourous stage event 'MadAds'. During my college days, the other colleges and their jokes for MadAds can be categorized as follows:
* my college - NIE -> we did not participate a lot in such events. (so did not win prizes in such events, so missed being the overall winners) I was personally against making dirty jokes on stage and wanted badly to believe that the event could be won based on clean jokes alone (talent where are you?).
* our rival college - SJCE -> they wouldn't mind being dirty on the stage. In fact they would go to such extents that their quiz teams would have explicit/dirty words in them, just to sound 'cool'.
* the medical college - MMC - well, what to expect from my Doctor friends, who read about human anatomy day in and day out!
And my BIGGEST complaint and point of frustration with MadAds was that the majority of jokes made would be based on feminine hygiene product advertisements !
I don't know what the scene in such inter-college competitions is these days. But I sure do hope, a bunch of really talented guys have changed the direction and steered it away from being dirty to good clean homour. I believe to be able to do so requires real talent. I hope the competitions are not swayed by the antics of the less-talented ones, who will always take the short-cut to success.
Or should humour be always dirty to be fun?
No, we just have not seen much of real talent. Most of the chaps have just followed the crowd.
, ,
This is what he says about one particular show:
* 60% of it was on sex or sex related.
* 35% of it was on the race, origin, ethnicity... most of it derogatory.
* remaining was what I would say normal jokes.
I agree completely. My issues with comedy not being clean and above the belt started in my undergrad years. Being very active in the inter-college competition scene, I would take part in numerous public speaking competitions and also would try to participate (and try to win) in stage competitions like 'Mad-Ads' etc.
But...but ...but alas, to win in stage competitions like MadAds, one HAD to be dirty. All the jokes had to be below the belt or at best on the belt. No clean funny jokes! And the worse part is that the audience and the judges enjoyed such stuff ! The fact that the judges were also students or from a comparable age group segment did really influence the way these competitions were judged and what it took to win in them.
I believed that to be able to be above the belt required real talent and a great sense of humour. To make jokes which were not clean was the easiest thing to do. I tried at times to win a prize based on clean jokes, but that never happened. I also grouped up with the best teams of other colleges to learn how to go about this whole thing, but would then drop out since all their jokes would be dirty.
For example, lets take the popular humourous stage event 'MadAds'. During my college days, the other colleges and their jokes for MadAds can be categorized as follows:
* my college - NIE -> we did not participate a lot in such events. (so did not win prizes in such events, so missed being the overall winners) I was personally against making dirty jokes on stage and wanted badly to believe that the event could be won based on clean jokes alone (talent where are you?).
* our rival college - SJCE -> they wouldn't mind being dirty on the stage. In fact they would go to such extents that their quiz teams would have explicit/dirty words in them, just to sound 'cool'.
* the medical college - MMC - well, what to expect from my Doctor friends, who read about human anatomy day in and day out!
And my BIGGEST complaint and point of frustration with MadAds was that the majority of jokes made would be based on feminine hygiene product advertisements !
I don't know what the scene in such inter-college competitions is these days. But I sure do hope, a bunch of really talented guys have changed the direction and steered it away from being dirty to good clean homour. I believe to be able to do so requires real talent. I hope the competitions are not swayed by the antics of the less-talented ones, who will always take the short-cut to success.
Or should humour be always dirty to be fun?
No, we just have not seen much of real talent. Most of the chaps have just followed the crowd.
, ,
Saturday, December 02, 2006
He feared the night - 1
He feared the night, really really feared it.
He would get into the safety of his bed early, as early as he could once the sun had set and would step out of his bed only when he was sure it was daybreak.
This had started out a long time back. As a kid his teacher had tried to explain about the stars that we see at night and what struck him was the falsity of the whole view. His science teacher had told the students in the class that the stars that we see today are the stars of yesterday and we could never see the stars of today, today. The star that he saw in the night, might not even exist at that moment. As a kid he was learning to believe in what he saw, now he was told that it was not always true. This scared him a lot.
This was the first instance which sowed the seed for the fear of the night. As he grew up and as he learnt and experienced more, his fear only increased.
He had asked his parents, questioned the many times to know if they too feared the falsehood of the sight of the stars. His Mom and Dad would get irritated and would brush him off. They would only say that it was nothing to be worried about. His little kid sister was too little to know the answer to his question. She had not learnt enough truths, that she could start recognizing the lies.
He had to find the answer himself and so many a nights he would go to his rooftop and would gaze at the stars for minutes. He would try hard to convince himself that what he saw was untrue. But that would be impossible, how could what was visible be untrue? It was visible, he could see it, others could also see it, then how can it be untrue?
It was the night, he assured himself, that was evil and untrue. It was when the bad magic would rule the world. It was a dangerous time, yes that is what the night was. In the darkness, when warm light was missing, the untruths would come to life. Magic, mystery would reign while logic and reason would die. The night which mocked at his sense of reality was a scary beast. He learnt that and he grew to scare the evil dark night.
(c) Deapesh.
, ,
He would get into the safety of his bed early, as early as he could once the sun had set and would step out of his bed only when he was sure it was daybreak.
This had started out a long time back. As a kid his teacher had tried to explain about the stars that we see at night and what struck him was the falsity of the whole view. His science teacher had told the students in the class that the stars that we see today are the stars of yesterday and we could never see the stars of today, today. The star that he saw in the night, might not even exist at that moment. As a kid he was learning to believe in what he saw, now he was told that it was not always true. This scared him a lot.
This was the first instance which sowed the seed for the fear of the night. As he grew up and as he learnt and experienced more, his fear only increased.
He had asked his parents, questioned the many times to know if they too feared the falsehood of the sight of the stars. His Mom and Dad would get irritated and would brush him off. They would only say that it was nothing to be worried about. His little kid sister was too little to know the answer to his question. She had not learnt enough truths, that she could start recognizing the lies.
He had to find the answer himself and so many a nights he would go to his rooftop and would gaze at the stars for minutes. He would try hard to convince himself that what he saw was untrue. But that would be impossible, how could what was visible be untrue? It was visible, he could see it, others could also see it, then how can it be untrue?
It was the night, he assured himself, that was evil and untrue. It was when the bad magic would rule the world. It was a dangerous time, yes that is what the night was. In the darkness, when warm light was missing, the untruths would come to life. Magic, mystery would reign while logic and reason would die. The night which mocked at his sense of reality was a scary beast. He learnt that and he grew to scare the evil dark night.
(c) Deapesh.
, ,
Monday, November 20, 2006
Securiteam's new terminology for a CAPTCHA!
The author (Gadi Evron) blogs on the Securiteam's website about what he has named to be a 'Reverse CAPTCHA'! The author in this blog states that images used in spam can be called a 'Reverse CAPTCHA'.
There are some problems in using this terminology!
The definition of a CAPTCHA by the CMU team is thus:
====
A CAPTCHA is a program that can generate and grade tests that most humans can pass, but current computer programs can't pass.
====
Somehow the tests such programs generate has also got the name 'CAPTCHA'. We shall accept such a nomenclature. Thus the distorted letters that we see and try to recognize have also been called CAPTCHAs.
CAPTCHAs are a kind of 'Reverse Turing Tests' (RTT), this is also noted in the Securiteam Blog.
Thus then, is a 'Reverse CAPTCHA' a 'reverse-reverse-Turing test' == 'Turing test'?
Turing Test -> (reversed) --> CAPTCHA
CAPTCHA -> (reversed) --> Turing Tests
No, the author rightly mentions that, his definition of a 'reverse CAPTCHA' is based only on the intent. CAPTCHAs were designed to stop the bad guys and allow the good guys, while image based spam uses the same concept to allow the bad things in.
The reversal in this case is only in the intent. Calling that a 'reverse CAPTCHA' is not the right thing causes it only confuses and muddles up the terminology.
Image based Spam is also an example of a CAPTCHA. Humans can pass it while machines can not. It is just an abuse of the original concept of CAPTCHA.
, ,
There are some problems in using this terminology!
The definition of a CAPTCHA by the CMU team is thus:
====
A CAPTCHA is a program that can generate and grade tests that most humans can pass, but current computer programs can't pass.
====
Somehow the tests such programs generate has also got the name 'CAPTCHA'. We shall accept such a nomenclature. Thus the distorted letters that we see and try to recognize have also been called CAPTCHAs.
CAPTCHAs are a kind of 'Reverse Turing Tests' (RTT), this is also noted in the Securiteam Blog.
Thus then, is a 'Reverse CAPTCHA' a 'reverse-reverse-Turing test' == 'Turing test'?
Turing Test -> (reversed) --> CAPTCHA
CAPTCHA -> (reversed) --> Turing Tests
No, the author rightly mentions that, his definition of a 'reverse CAPTCHA' is based only on the intent. CAPTCHAs were designed to stop the bad guys and allow the good guys, while image based spam uses the same concept to allow the bad things in.
The reversal in this case is only in the intent. Calling that a 'reverse CAPTCHA' is not the right thing causes it only confuses and muddles up the terminology.
Image based Spam is also an example of a CAPTCHA. Humans can pass it while machines can not. It is just an abuse of the original concept of CAPTCHA.
, ,
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Google, Worms and CAPTCHAs
At the recently held WORM 2006 workshop, Niels Provos (Google) in his presentation, informed us that CAPTCHAs were used by Google in preventing worm attacks.
Some worms (I don't recollect the details and don't have my notes handy now) use Google to search for email addresses to mail themselves to. Google used CAPTCHAs to prevent such automated web attacks.
Will update this post with more details soon.
UPDATE 4/29/2007:
Found the details. It was the Slaty Worm against which CAPTCHAs were used by the Google team. The research paper detailing this is titled "Search Worms".
, ,
Some worms (I don't recollect the details and don't have my notes handy now) use Google to search for email addresses to mail themselves to. Google used CAPTCHAs to prevent such automated web attacks.
Will update this post with more details soon.
UPDATE 4/29/2007:
Found the details. It was the Slaty Worm against which CAPTCHAs were used by the Google team. The research paper detailing this is titled "Search Worms".
, ,
Technology Watch - Google Checkout
This holiday season, you would have noticed at websites, the offer of $10 off if one paid for the merchandise using 'Google Checkout'.
I was curious about it and clicked that extra link to know more about the service. Google is trying to make inroads into the web payment business.
Using 'Google Checkout', the customer pays the merchant through Google. Google stores the transaction information, the credit card details and forwards money to the vendor.
Advantages:
* One account for all the monetary transactions
* No more reliance on the vendor to keep the credit card details safely (we can surely assume that Google will do a better job of keeping the details safe)
Disadvantages:
* One more level of invasion of privacy by google. Google will now be able to keep tab on what one buys apart from all the information it already knows about us.
* Further helps Google to become one big company which wants to control everything
, ,
I was curious about it and clicked that extra link to know more about the service. Google is trying to make inroads into the web payment business.
Using 'Google Checkout', the customer pays the merchant through Google. Google stores the transaction information, the credit card details and forwards money to the vendor.
Advantages:
* One account for all the monetary transactions
* No more reliance on the vendor to keep the credit card details safely (we can surely assume that Google will do a better job of keeping the details safe)
Disadvantages:
* One more level of invasion of privacy by google. Google will now be able to keep tab on what one buys apart from all the information it already knows about us.
* Further helps Google to become one big company which wants to control everything
, ,
Technology Watch - Yahoo email and maps
Yahoo is doing pretty well IMHO in providing competition to Google's gmail. I was able to check their latest feature in Yahoomail today.
I received an email with an address in it. Yahoo recognized the lines which had the address and with a click of the mouse allowed me to see it on their new Yahoo maps. Not only that, in the same map page, I could type in the starting location and Yahoo would give me the driving directions.
Pretty neat !!
And if you receive a phone number in the email, Yahoo also allows you to save the number in your contacts list.
, ,
I received an email with an address in it. Yahoo recognized the lines which had the address and with a click of the mouse allowed me to see it on their new Yahoo maps. Not only that, in the same map page, I could type in the starting location and Yahoo would give me the driving directions.
Pretty neat !!
And if you receive a phone number in the email, Yahoo also allows you to save the number in your contacts list.
, ,
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Spam and Wikipedia
If you read the post prior to this, you would know about the strange error message that I got on Samspade.org.
This was the strange error message:
============
ERROR: Unable to connect to for Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.78 [en] (WinNT; U) Subject: mushrooms have more cc: fioday@aol.com cc: lacutepoet@aol.com cc: k0enig@aol.com cc: misstress22@aol.com cc: livvybird@aol.com cc: dinotto2@aol.com cc: catrice351@aol.com cc: sportstar3tk@aol.com This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is also known as = peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture of ground yellow peas was us= ed for coating to improve curing --f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a-- . for 70.167.151.46 ... Aborting
============
What did I do next? The very very obvious, I googled for the following sentence (without the quotes) "plain pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is also known as".
The first hit was Wikipedia ! This Wikipedia article on Bacon has the exact sentence.
The other hits are also quite interesting. For instance on this site http://www.typotect.com/a/pix/pix-Pages/images.php?id=0 a similar piece of text appears. It appears as comment spam and the text is:
============
posted by: dry Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Grocery: 00637cad6139c633d2962282ef73ea86 Content-Type: text/plain X-Mailer: Eudora [Macintosh version 6.0a15] Subject: the ham in a brine to: jimmydy2j@aol.com to: print4u2@aol.com to: sndbutler02@aol.com to: gantwo@aol.com to: mpcbfamily@aol.com to: iynchwise@aol.com has been sweet pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is= also known as peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture of ground yel= low .he9808@typotect.com
============
On this site http://www.joesportsfan.com/column.php?storyid=102
we again see comment spam, the text being:
============
Posted By t8241@joesportsfan.com :: September 14, 2006 @ 12:06:07 AM
often
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Evolution/1.0-5mdk
Content-Type: text/plain
Moked: 62f25a15e7aef27d13ad6ff229dbddd6
Subject: curing suitable
bcc: marciec67@yahoo.com
bcc: hazeltwinkle19@yahoo.com
bcc: ltcaohf@yahoo.com
bcc: michaelbutch@yahoo.com
bcc: bluedog420@yahoo.com
bcc: iynchwise@aol.com
bcc: jpjones@yahoo.com
bcc: maromar@lycos.com
bcc: dbanks@qwest.net
bcc: parchment@yahoo.com
bcc: titsnhips215@marten.com
anada, where it is simply called back bacon, or peameal bacon. n anada,
anadian bacon is traditionally unsmoked back bacon that has been sweet
pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is also known as
peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture
============
We have seen very recently how spam messages were making use of English classic texts to pass through Spam filters.
Question Time:
* Is this attempt of using text from Wikipedia along the same lines?
* Why is email spam being seen in comment fields?
* Why is Samspade displaying email spam?
, ,
This was the strange error message:
============
ERROR: Unable to connect to for Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.78 [en] (WinNT; U) Subject: mushrooms have more cc: fioday@aol.com cc: lacutepoet@aol.com cc: k0enig@aol.com cc: misstress22@aol.com cc: livvybird@aol.com cc: dinotto2@aol.com cc: catrice351@aol.com cc: sportstar3tk@aol.com This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is also known as = peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture of ground yellow peas was us= ed for coating to improve curing --f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a-- . for 70.167.151.46 ... Aborting
============
What did I do next? The very very obvious, I googled for the following sentence (without the quotes) "plain pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is also known as".
The first hit was Wikipedia ! This Wikipedia article on Bacon has the exact sentence.
The other hits are also quite interesting. For instance on this site http://www.typotect.com/a/pix/pix-Pages/images.php?id=0 a similar piece of text appears. It appears as comment spam and the text is:
============
posted by: dry Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Grocery: 00637cad6139c633d2962282ef73ea86 Content-Type: text/plain X-Mailer: Eudora [Macintosh version 6.0a15] Subject: the ham in a brine to: jimmydy2j@aol.com to: print4u2@aol.com to: sndbutler02@aol.com to: gantwo@aol.com to: mpcbfamily@aol.com to: iynchwise@aol.com has been sweet pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is= also known as peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture of ground yel= low .he9808@typotect.com
============
On this site http://www.joesportsfan.com/column.php?storyid=102
we again see comment spam, the text being:
============
Posted By t8241@joesportsfan.com :: September 14, 2006 @ 12:06:07 AM
often
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Evolution/1.0-5mdk
Content-Type: text/plain
Moked: 62f25a15e7aef27d13ad6ff229dbddd6
Subject: curing suitable
bcc: marciec67@yahoo.com
bcc: hazeltwinkle19@yahoo.com
bcc: ltcaohf@yahoo.com
bcc: michaelbutch@yahoo.com
bcc: bluedog420@yahoo.com
bcc: iynchwise@aol.com
bcc: jpjones@yahoo.com
bcc: maromar@lycos.com
bcc: dbanks@qwest.net
bcc: parchment@yahoo.com
bcc: titsnhips215@marten.com
anada, where it is simply called back bacon, or peameal bacon. n anada,
anadian bacon is traditionally unsmoked back bacon that has been sweet
pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is also known as
peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture
============
We have seen very recently how spam messages were making use of English classic texts to pass through Spam filters.
Question Time:
* Is this attempt of using text from Wikipedia along the same lines?
* Why is email spam being seen in comment fields?
* Why is Samspade displaying email spam?
, ,
Samspade Problems
I wonder if I am a good story teller. I hope I am, 'cause I am going to tell you one.
Late evening today, when I was too tired to do any technical work, I was browsing around the web when a firewall alert, alerted me to the fact that my web browser wanted to accept connections from 70.167.151.46:5004.
That having piqued my curiosity, I immediately proceeded to www.samspade.org to find more about this IP address. It is another story that this IP address belongs to Cox Communications and that I still have no clue why my browser wished to connect to it.
At Spamspade.org another story was unfolding. As you might know the site has been experiencing some difficulties lately. It was down for some time and then came up with limited functionality.
I was quite surprised to note that my query for the IP address lead to a strange error message from Samspade. The error message being:
============
============
I went back to their main page and again ran the query which again resulted in the same error message. I happened to notice that although I was querying for the 70.167.151.46 IP address, the results page on Samspade would have a different IP address in the title.
This can be seen in the image below.
I ran the query 3-4 times and every time I would get the strange error message and the title varied as follows:
Whois tr12g05.aset.psu.edu
Whois mailgate5.sitestar.net
Some sanity returned and now I started receiving an error message:
============
"ERROR: Unable to connect to this7587@samspade.org for 70.167.151.46 ... Aborting ..."
============
while the title on the results page varied as follows:
Whois 74.6.74.44
Whois 205.188.116.139
Whois 72.236.205.249
Whois 72.236.205.249
Whois 70.167.151.46
You would note that the last title in the list is the right one and that is what should have been displayed right from the beginning.
Wonder what is going on with Samspade ?
============
PS: Due to some bug in Blogger, after the first usage of any html tag, the line spacing goes for a toss. Thus after the first time I used the blockquote tag, the line spacing went for a toss and did not default back! bugs...
, ,
Late evening today, when I was too tired to do any technical work, I was browsing around the web when a firewall alert, alerted me to the fact that my web browser wanted to accept connections from 70.167.151.46:5004.
That having piqued my curiosity, I immediately proceeded to www.samspade.org to find more about this IP address. It is another story that this IP address belongs to Cox Communications and that I still have no clue why my browser wished to connect to it.
At Spamspade.org another story was unfolding. As you might know the site has been experiencing some difficulties lately. It was down for some time and then came up with limited functionality.
I was quite surprised to note that my query for the IP address lead to a strange error message from Samspade. The error message being:
============
"ERROR: Unable to connect to for Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.78 [en] (WinNT; U) Subject: mushrooms have more cc: fioday@aol.com cc: lacutepoet@aol.com cc: k0enig@aol.com cc: misstress22@aol.com cc: livvybird@aol.com cc: dinotto2@aol.com cc: catrice351@aol.com cc: sportstar3tk@aol.com This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain pickle cured and coated in yellow cornmeal. his variation is also known as = peameal bacon, because in times past a mixture of ground yellow peas was us= ed for coating to improve curing --f8a38150b440dab4e5aa41b8e373d75a-- . for 70.167.151.46 ... Aborting"
============
I went back to their main page and again ran the query which again resulted in the same error message. I happened to notice that although I was querying for the 70.167.151.46 IP address, the results page on Samspade would have a different IP address in the title.
This can be seen in the image below.
I ran the query 3-4 times and every time I would get the strange error message and the title varied as follows:
Whois tr12g05.aset.psu.edu
Whois mailgate5.sitestar.net
Some sanity returned and now I started receiving an error message:
============
"ERROR: Unable to connect to this7587@samspade.org for 70.167.151.46 ... Aborting ..."
============
while the title on the results page varied as follows:
Whois 74.6.74.44
Whois 205.188.116.139
Whois 72.236.205.249
Whois 72.236.205.249
Whois 70.167.151.46
You would note that the last title in the list is the right one and that is what should have been displayed right from the beginning.
Wonder what is going on with Samspade ?
============
PS: Due to some bug in Blogger, after the first usage of any html tag, the line spacing goes for a toss. Thus after the first time I used the blockquote tag, the line spacing went for a toss and did not default back! bugs...
, ,
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Fountain Pens
Not many use a fountain pen these days, at least not for daily writing.
I found this great web site which had a lot of suggestions and advice.
, ,
I found this great web site which had a lot of suggestions and advice.
, ,
CAPTCHAs at Internet Storm Center
ISC ran a story titled 'Form Spam: Increasing the Attacker's work function'
To deal with spam they implemented a CAPTCHA. This was some home made CAPTCHA solution. They report that this led to a decrease in the number of submissions:
Kinda interesting to note that the highly-technical geeky chaps did not want to solve a CAPTCHA !
, ,
To deal with spam they implemented a CAPTCHA. This was some home made CAPTCHA solution. They report that this led to a decrease in the number of submissions:
Our somewhat ugly home made captcha solution caused submissions to drop by about 30%, which wasn't acceptable.
Kinda interesting to note that the highly-technical geeky chaps did not want to solve a CAPTCHA !
, ,
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Turn Indicator Colour
Simple Question:
what is the best colour for the turn indicator on vehicles?
I was used to seeing vehicles which had orange coloured lights for turn indicators and red coloured lights for brake light and tail light.
But now I see and get irritated by turn indicators which are ALSO red in colour! Isn't it better not to confuse the driver behind and simply keep the colours separate?
Worse than this is, the concept of using the brake light itself as a turn indicator!!! At least once I almost FAILED to notice that the car in front of me was signaling to turn since in that car, one of the brake lights turns into a flashing light (to indicate the 'turn') while the other remains a solid red.
I am not sure how much research has gone into this GREAT IDEA!!!!!!
, ,
what is the best colour for the turn indicator on vehicles?
I was used to seeing vehicles which had orange coloured lights for turn indicators and red coloured lights for brake light and tail light.
But now I see and get irritated by turn indicators which are ALSO red in colour! Isn't it better not to confuse the driver behind and simply keep the colours separate?
Worse than this is, the concept of using the brake light itself as a turn indicator!!! At least once I almost FAILED to notice that the car in front of me was signaling to turn since in that car, one of the brake lights turns into a flashing light (to indicate the 'turn') while the other remains a solid red.
I am not sure how much research has gone into this GREAT IDEA!!!!!!
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Borat, Borat, boRAT
You must see the movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan". It is really really hilarious like all the millions of zillions of people are saying about it.
The theater I went to, had the audience laughing almost throughout the movie. Some people were laughing out so much that they started stamping their feet on the ground!! Claps would be heard every now and then from segments of the crowd. A must-watch movie to get great laughs.
The Question: How many of the people in the movie knew that this was for a movie?
A lot of websites are following up on this question. A good source for answers is "The Real Stories behind Borat". This site has collected various local news articles which report on the reactions of the people who were duped into being part of the shot.
Yes, duped is the word. Most of them reportedly had not read the fine print of the consent forms they hurriedly signed. There is also speculation on the internet that one of them will definitely sue the actor and his team.
About whether there was a script or not, this MTV article has this to say:
Surely the whole shooting would have had a lot of hiccups. The team had a lot of problems with the law enforcement authorities reports the same MTV article:
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The theater I went to, had the audience laughing almost throughout the movie. Some people were laughing out so much that they started stamping their feet on the ground!! Claps would be heard every now and then from segments of the crowd. A must-watch movie to get great laughs.
The Question: How many of the people in the movie knew that this was for a movie?
A lot of websites are following up on this question. A good source for answers is "The Real Stories behind Borat". This site has collected various local news articles which report on the reactions of the people who were duped into being part of the shot.
Yes, duped is the word. Most of them reportedly had not read the fine print of the consent forms they hurriedly signed. There is also speculation on the internet that one of them will definitely sue the actor and his team.
About whether there was a script or not, this MTV article has this to say:
"There was no script. The movie is an experiment — a new form of filmmaking for an age in which reality and entertainment have become increasingly intertwined. Real events with real people push the film's fictional story, and when scenes played out in unexpected ways, Baron Cohen and his colleagues had to rewrite the outline."
Surely the whole shooting would have had a lot of hiccups. The team had a lot of problems with the law enforcement authorities reports the same MTV article:
In real life, the legally questionable activities of Baron Cohen and his colleagues often attracted the attention of local authorities. A warrant was issued for the actor's arrest in New York, and Baron Cohen was advised by police to leave the state when he tried to secure a room in a fancy hotel while his underwear was hanging out of his pants. Through it all, the actor remained in character as Borat - even when the Secret Service detained him outside the White House.
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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Solving CAPTCHAs
A Slashdost post indicated that humans are ready to solve CAPTCHAs for a very low price.
Somebody asked for a quote to solve CAPTCHAs in a 50 hour week on a freelancer recruitment website.
The average asking price to solve CAPTCHAs in 50 hours was 57$, which makes it almost a dollar for an hour. The least asking quote was 30$ (0.6$ for an hour).
The description for this job type is really vague. The number of CAPTCHAs to be solved is not specified. What is specified is the number of hours for which the human will have to work on solving the CAPTCHAs. I would expect a spammer to rather tell the number of CAPTCHAs that need to be solved.
Also there is somehow an implicit assumption that the CAPTCHAs are from a database or are generated by the software. It could very well be that they are relayed to the software application, in which case, the concept of 'finished the job' would not exist. The person who won the bid would have to be available for 50 hours, during which there could be high activity to no activity.
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Somebody asked for a quote to solve CAPTCHAs in a 50 hour week on a freelancer recruitment website.
The average asking price to solve CAPTCHAs in 50 hours was 57$, which makes it almost a dollar for an hour. The least asking quote was 30$ (0.6$ for an hour).
The description for this job type is really vague. The number of CAPTCHAs to be solved is not specified. What is specified is the number of hours for which the human will have to work on solving the CAPTCHAs. I would expect a spammer to rather tell the number of CAPTCHAs that need to be solved.
Also there is somehow an implicit assumption that the CAPTCHAs are from a database or are generated by the software. It could very well be that they are relayed to the software application, in which case, the concept of 'finished the job' would not exist. The person who won the bid would have to be available for 50 hours, during which there could be high activity to no activity.
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Sunday, October 29, 2006
Guns - primitive solutions?
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Guns - primitive solutions?
An interesting conversation with my Prof. led to the realization that guns are such primitive solutions to defense!
Many many generations back taking a life out, eliminating a life form was the solution to any defense or self preservation related problem. And unfortunately this primitive solution is used even today!
Most of the people with firearms reason out that self defense is the reason why they are in possession of one. But if this is true, then it is also worthwhile considering that the elimination of another life form for the self preservation of one is a solution which dates back to time immemorial and is thus an extremely antediluvian form of a solution!
Isn't it strange that better tools are not there? And if you reason out that there is research going on for such weapons, even then I am surprised that it has taken this long to even realize the need for such non-killing weapons.
I guess it can be accepted that taking the life of any life form should be the last resort in any case, in any developed society. For it guarantees everyone that basic right and fundamental right of life. Take this right away from some life form/s and it might be taken away from you too. The best way to guarantee that you always have this right is to ensure that every other living form has the same right without any kind of exception. (For it could be that as you treat some life form/s as an exception to this rule, you might be considered to be an exception by some other life form/s.)
So if we have agreed upon that, then the next step is to realize the primitiveness in the idea of taking away a life in order to defend oneself. Surely there are better ways to guarantee self preservation than this extreme step.
To attack is not the best defense in this case, surely not for an advanced society.
UPDATE:
The recent episode of the UCLA police using Taser, has brought a lot of focus on the usage of 'non-lethal' weapons. Wikipedia article on Shock Guns highlights the advantages and disadvantages of such weapons.
UPDATE:
The movie 'Lord of War' is about an arms dealer, Yuri Orlov, who is cold and cynical to the point that he says:
"They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails." ".
The movie ends with Yuri saying:
"You know who's going to inherit the Earth? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other. That's the secret to survival. Never go to war. Especially with yourself."
Guns, do we need them?
The lobbyists for guns say "Guns do not kill people. People kill people". Which has been countered by a similarly illogical statement: "Fingers do not kill people. Bullets do".
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Guns - primitive solutions?
An interesting conversation with my Prof. led to the realization that guns are such primitive solutions to defense!
Many many generations back taking a life out, eliminating a life form was the solution to any defense or self preservation related problem. And unfortunately this primitive solution is used even today!
Most of the people with firearms reason out that self defense is the reason why they are in possession of one. But if this is true, then it is also worthwhile considering that the elimination of another life form for the self preservation of one is a solution which dates back to time immemorial and is thus an extremely antediluvian form of a solution!
Isn't it strange that better tools are not there? And if you reason out that there is research going on for such weapons, even then I am surprised that it has taken this long to even realize the need for such non-killing weapons.
I guess it can be accepted that taking the life of any life form should be the last resort in any case, in any developed society. For it guarantees everyone that basic right and fundamental right of life. Take this right away from some life form/s and it might be taken away from you too. The best way to guarantee that you always have this right is to ensure that every other living form has the same right without any kind of exception. (For it could be that as you treat some life form/s as an exception to this rule, you might be considered to be an exception by some other life form/s.)
So if we have agreed upon that, then the next step is to realize the primitiveness in the idea of taking away a life in order to defend oneself. Surely there are better ways to guarantee self preservation than this extreme step.
To attack is not the best defense in this case, surely not for an advanced society.
UPDATE:
The recent episode of the UCLA police using Taser, has brought a lot of focus on the usage of 'non-lethal' weapons. Wikipedia article on Shock Guns highlights the advantages and disadvantages of such weapons.
UPDATE:
The movie 'Lord of War' is about an arms dealer, Yuri Orlov, who is cold and cynical to the point that he says:
"They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails." ".
The movie ends with Yuri saying:
"You know who's going to inherit the Earth? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other. That's the secret to survival. Never go to war. Especially with yourself."
Guns, do we need them?
The lobbyists for guns say "Guns do not kill people. People kill people". Which has been countered by a similarly illogical statement: "Fingers do not kill people. Bullets do".
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From the archives
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
The Thousand whispers of the Banyan leaves
they whisper softly to me...what I don't know.
and now, I don't go to the tree anymore.........
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Brrrr....its cold again !!!!
Well the cold season has arrived !! Some were waiting for it some don't like it.
Last night I recorded 15C on my little thermometer key chain. I was wearing the jacket to school for the first time too. Late in the night it was really cold. The unprepared were shaking and shivering while the ones with the jackets were doing better.
That means from today onwards there will be more winter wear out in the school. That also means that soon I wont be able to cycle to school anymore and will loose my much much valued independence!!!!
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The Thousand whispers of the Banyan leaves
they whisper softly to me...what I don't know.
and now, I don't go to the tree anymore.........
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Brrrr....its cold again !!!!
Well the cold season has arrived !! Some were waiting for it some don't like it.
Last night I recorded 15C on my little thermometer key chain. I was wearing the jacket to school for the first time too. Late in the night it was really cold. The unprepared were shaking and shivering while the ones with the jackets were doing better.
That means from today onwards there will be more winter wear out in the school. That also means that soon I wont be able to cycle to school anymore and will loose my much much valued independence!!!!
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Friday, October 27, 2006
nsl-school IM Worm
I recently received some messages with malicious links through Yahoo messenger from a friend.
These were the messages:
(I have replaced nsl-school.org with NSL-LINK and myglobal-news.com with MYGLOBAL-LINK.)
DO NOT RECONSTRUCT NOR CLICK ON THE LINKS
(10/27/2006 4:10:33 AM): never click into the links like something in this image http:// /dontclick.jpg !!!
(10/27/2006 4:11:12 AM): Screenshot of new windows version _ Windows Vista http:// /vista.jpg so cool
(10/27/2006 4:11:55 AM): Screenshot of new windows version _ Windows Vista http:// /vista.jpg so cool
(10/27/2006 4:12:42 AM): 1 of my vacation pictures http:// /vacation1.jpg
(10/27/2006 4:13:55 AM): Miss World 2006: http:// /MissWorld.jpg !!
(10/27/2006 4:15:09 AM): My pics http:// /mypics.jpg << (10/27/2006 8:50:59 AM): wtf is this ? wanna give me a shit ? http://NSL-LINK/?id=news Breaking news : school girls are kidnapped by the terrorists !! http://MYGLOBAL-LINK/?news_id=18388 (10/27/2006 9:04:21 AM): damn, she is so cute http://NSL-LINK/?id=miss_world After googling this for sometime I found out that this seems to be the activity of a worm which is affecting Asian users of Yahoo Messenger. Trend Micro calls this worm as WORM_SOHANAD.C.
Among the messages I received, you would notice that some were incomplete. Perhaps Yahoo is blocking these links, but I am not too sure if that is true.
=====================================
Trend Micro in their report on this worm mention:
In addition, when an Internet Explorer window having the title bar Mesothelioma, Asbestosis & Lung Cancer Information - Microsoft Internet Explorer is opened, this worm changes the said name with null.
(Rare Cancer + Google AdSense + Litigations + advertisements) Fraud:
Following the lead of 'Mesothelioma' I got to know of the findings of FaceTime Security Labs on their blog 'blog.spywareguide'. Their article on the very sophisticated KMeth worm can be read here.
This analysis caught the attention of a large number of news portals on the web and the story was splashed almost everywhere. The article shows how sophisticated the malcode writers' business model is. A real complicated fraud. If you read and understood the complicated fraud model, you would recall that depending on the country the affected user is, the page will display differently.
I guess that is what Trend Micro was describing when they said that Mesothelioma related page titles are changed to null. This of course is my attempt to link WORM_SOHANAD.C and Worm KMeth together. A google for 'nsl-school' revealed that most of the people who complained about this worm were Asians. If KMeth was designed primarily for the US then, why aren't there complaints/rants from US users?
=====================================
Anti-Virus Vendors and blocked URLs:
The only way an user affected by a virus/worm can know more about the virus/worm is by using a search engine. In this case, of all the words in the messages that I received, "nsl-school" is a characteristic word. So searching for this word on the web seems the best option. But alas, anti-virus vendors do not specify the link completely in their pages! As in this instance the anti-virus vendor has deleted the complete links. How then will an affected user know more?
Trend Micro's English language page on this worm does not mention "nsl-school" at all. While in their Chinese Version (Google translated Chinese version) for the same worm they forgot to block the URL in one instance which luckily allowed me to confirm that the messages were indeed sent by the SOHANAD.C worm.
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These were the messages:
(I have replaced nsl-school.org with NSL-LINK and myglobal-news.com with MYGLOBAL-LINK.)
DO NOT RECONSTRUCT NOR CLICK ON THE LINKS
(10/27/2006 4:10:33 AM): never click into the links like something in this image http:// /dontclick.jpg !!!
(10/27/2006 4:11:12 AM): Screenshot of new windows version _ Windows Vista http:// /vista.jpg so cool
(10/27/2006 4:11:55 AM): Screenshot of new windows version _ Windows Vista http:// /vista.jpg so cool
(10/27/2006 4:12:42 AM): 1 of my vacation pictures http:// /vacation1.jpg
(10/27/2006 4:13:55 AM): Miss World 2006: http:// /MissWorld.jpg !!
(10/27/2006 4:15:09 AM): My pics http:// /mypics.jpg << (10/27/2006 8:50:59 AM): wtf is this ? wanna give me a shit ? http://NSL-LINK/?id=news Breaking news : school girls are kidnapped by the terrorists !! http://MYGLOBAL-LINK/?news_id=18388 (10/27/2006 9:04:21 AM): damn, she is so cute http://NSL-LINK/?id=miss_world After googling this for sometime I found out that this seems to be the activity of a worm which is affecting Asian users of Yahoo Messenger. Trend Micro calls this worm as WORM_SOHANAD.C.
Among the messages I received, you would notice that some were incomplete. Perhaps Yahoo is blocking these links, but I am not too sure if that is true.
=====================================
Trend Micro in their report on this worm mention:
In addition, when an Internet Explorer window having the title bar Mesothelioma, Asbestosis & Lung Cancer Information - Microsoft Internet Explorer is opened, this worm changes the said name with null.
(Rare Cancer + Google AdSense + Litigations + advertisements) Fraud:
Following the lead of 'Mesothelioma' I got to know of the findings of FaceTime Security Labs on their blog 'blog.spywareguide'. Their article on the very sophisticated KMeth worm can be read here.
This analysis caught the attention of a large number of news portals on the web and the story was splashed almost everywhere. The article shows how sophisticated the malcode writers' business model is. A real complicated fraud. If you read and understood the complicated fraud model, you would recall that depending on the country the affected user is, the page will display differently.
I guess that is what Trend Micro was describing when they said that Mesothelioma related page titles are changed to null. This of course is my attempt to link WORM_SOHANAD.C and Worm KMeth together. A google for 'nsl-school' revealed that most of the people who complained about this worm were Asians. If KMeth was designed primarily for the US then, why aren't there complaints/rants from US users?
=====================================
Anti-Virus Vendors and blocked URLs:
The only way an user affected by a virus/worm can know more about the virus/worm is by using a search engine. In this case, of all the words in the messages that I received, "nsl-school" is a characteristic word. So searching for this word on the web seems the best option. But alas, anti-virus vendors do not specify the link completely in their pages! As in this instance the anti-virus vendor has deleted the complete links. How then will an affected user know more?
Trend Micro's English language page on this worm does not mention "nsl-school" at all. While in their Chinese Version (Google translated Chinese version) for the same worm they forgot to block the URL in one instance which luckily allowed me to confirm that the messages were indeed sent by the SOHANAD.C worm.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The far away moon
In a far off world a moon shines.
I believe that it has the softest lustrous white glow. But it is very far away, so far that I will never be able to reach it. I have never seen it nor heard stories about it. But I believe that it exists and I sit and imagine about it when I am sad and disappointed.
The more I imagine about its beauty the more beautiful it becomes. The only problem with that is, that the more beautiful it becomes, the farther it drifts away from me. But I don't mind that because I like to imagine its beauty, its soft shine and the solace its beams provide.
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I believe that it has the softest lustrous white glow. But it is very far away, so far that I will never be able to reach it. I have never seen it nor heard stories about it. But I believe that it exists and I sit and imagine about it when I am sad and disappointed.
The more I imagine about its beauty the more beautiful it becomes. The only problem with that is, that the more beautiful it becomes, the farther it drifts away from me. But I don't mind that because I like to imagine its beauty, its soft shine and the solace its beams provide.
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Monday, October 23, 2006
what?
The boat gently rocked.
He drew out his lighter and lit his cigarette. I noticed for the first time that he was wearing gloves. Perhaps he was hiding some old scars from his violent Hungarian past. He had lost his family there I knew. So I preferred to stay mum and let him do all the talking. He was a good story teller I must admit. He went on and on and on with the story. My legs were beginning to go numb. I was sure I would walk with a limp for ever, after this long ordeal and my thoughts drifted to how my life would be if I was to become a cripple. Meanwhile he spoke of Guatemala.
I thought it would be good as the police surely would not line me up and I wounld not be their usual suspect for every felony that happened in my area. Yes, that would be great. I was getting tired of being taken to the police station every time some crime happened to be interrogated. No don't get me wrong, I like cops. I would've liked to have been a fed myself but.... Anyways then I was thinking about the next logical step when he interrupted my thoughts.
"Have you ever seen him?" he stared into my eyes intently and asked me, as if I was the key to the mystery. I shook my head and replied "No".
He repeated his question "Have you ever seen him?" and this time stared into the space. Nevertheless I again answered that I had never seen him but had heard a lot of stories about him from people. He simply smiled at me. I did not think too much about his smile but now realize that I made a mistake. I should have understood its implications, but you see I was almost blinded by my own reasoning, which I had no reasons to doubt. And don't tell me that you have never committed the same mistake, come on, we all have. The only difference is in the number of times we commit the same mistake.
He continued, "I hate tension. Tension is a killer."
"It killed my wife and my kids once. I was really tensed.", I wondered what he meant by that. I thought maybe he was getting delirious, it was easy to become so you see.
We were there in that small room and the violent shaking of the choppy waters shook everything inside the stomach so wildly that all one would want to do is to throw it all out. The blazing hot sun and the hunger added to the whole mess.
He mumbled something next. I strained my ears to hear that and I soon realised that he was singing a Turkish song. He wasn't speaking to me though he was looking at me. I didn't know what to do. I for sure thought he had flipped it, flipped it for real.
Luckily for me, he regained his senses. He asked for another cigarette. I gave him one. I was dying to ask him some questions. I thought this was the best opportunity to do so. And before he could go ahead with his story I asked him "Have you ever avenged a death?".
He laughed, he laughed for a good few minutes and then calmly answered "No".
I asked him if he was in prison before.
"You do some time, they never let you go. You know. They treat you like a criminal. I'm not a criminal."
I murmured that I agreed to that.
(c) Deapesh.
, ,
He drew out his lighter and lit his cigarette. I noticed for the first time that he was wearing gloves. Perhaps he was hiding some old scars from his violent Hungarian past. He had lost his family there I knew. So I preferred to stay mum and let him do all the talking. He was a good story teller I must admit. He went on and on and on with the story. My legs were beginning to go numb. I was sure I would walk with a limp for ever, after this long ordeal and my thoughts drifted to how my life would be if I was to become a cripple. Meanwhile he spoke of Guatemala.
I thought it would be good as the police surely would not line me up and I wounld not be their usual suspect for every felony that happened in my area. Yes, that would be great. I was getting tired of being taken to the police station every time some crime happened to be interrogated. No don't get me wrong, I like cops. I would've liked to have been a fed myself but.... Anyways then I was thinking about the next logical step when he interrupted my thoughts.
"Have you ever seen him?" he stared into my eyes intently and asked me, as if I was the key to the mystery. I shook my head and replied "No".
He repeated his question "Have you ever seen him?" and this time stared into the space. Nevertheless I again answered that I had never seen him but had heard a lot of stories about him from people. He simply smiled at me. I did not think too much about his smile but now realize that I made a mistake. I should have understood its implications, but you see I was almost blinded by my own reasoning, which I had no reasons to doubt. And don't tell me that you have never committed the same mistake, come on, we all have. The only difference is in the number of times we commit the same mistake.
He continued, "I hate tension. Tension is a killer."
"It killed my wife and my kids once. I was really tensed.", I wondered what he meant by that. I thought maybe he was getting delirious, it was easy to become so you see.
We were there in that small room and the violent shaking of the choppy waters shook everything inside the stomach so wildly that all one would want to do is to throw it all out. The blazing hot sun and the hunger added to the whole mess.
He mumbled something next. I strained my ears to hear that and I soon realised that he was singing a Turkish song. He wasn't speaking to me though he was looking at me. I didn't know what to do. I for sure thought he had flipped it, flipped it for real.
Luckily for me, he regained his senses. He asked for another cigarette. I gave him one. I was dying to ask him some questions. I thought this was the best opportunity to do so. And before he could go ahead with his story I asked him "Have you ever avenged a death?".
He laughed, he laughed for a good few minutes and then calmly answered "No".
I asked him if he was in prison before.
"You do some time, they never let you go. You know. They treat you like a criminal. I'm not a criminal."
I murmured that I agreed to that.
(c) Deapesh.
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Sunday, October 22, 2006
The Lake near my house
Sometime in the middle of cold cold February, when the moon is half full, a white horse takes off from the middle of the lake. People who were at the lake at such times have seen the horse and swear that it was not their imagination.
The faint moonlight adds to its splendour and to its whiteness. With a head that is bent it appears from the lake and without turning around or even moving its head, it slowly takes off into the sky. It is said that if one mounts the horse, then the horse takes the rider to the land of the rider's dreams. In such a land, the rider will find all his/her dreams come true.
Far far away beyond the clouds, it is said that such lands exist. Riding the white magical horse of the enchanted lake is one way to get there.
, ,
The faint moonlight adds to its splendour and to its whiteness. With a head that is bent it appears from the lake and without turning around or even moving its head, it slowly takes off into the sky. It is said that if one mounts the horse, then the horse takes the rider to the land of the rider's dreams. In such a land, the rider will find all his/her dreams come true.
Far far away beyond the clouds, it is said that such lands exist. Riding the white magical horse of the enchanted lake is one way to get there.
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