"What You Need, When You Need It"

Have you ever been surfing the Internet and stumbled across a website that looked like the picture above? Is the motto in my title familiar to you? If so, you've run afoul of the cybersquatter. Cybersquatters are lowlifes who profit off of foolish or ignorant web users and sometimes the hard work of others.

In order to make an independent website, one needs a "domain name" - the URL. Many websites, like the blog you're reading now, have domains provided by a parent ocmpany - Google - for free. If you want your very own domain with no ties to other companies, though, you have to pay for it.

What cybersquatters like to do is get good URLs before a legitimate business or person can. They then turn the website into a cesspool of advertising, but add a few things to try and trick people who aren't paying attention into thinking that the site is a legitimate resource for information or media. They'll also offer to sell the address to anyone who wants it - at a very high price so they can buy more domains to squat on. I sometimes fell prey to these sites when I was younger. If you click on any of their links or make any searches on their search bar, the cybersquatters make money.

One example of a cybersquatter is "Goggle.com", a seething mass of ads that seeks to trap people who accidentally misspell "Google" when typing in their address bar. A rumor made the rounds back in 2006 that Goggle would infect your computer with unstoppable viruses if you visited it. While not true, Goggle is not a website you should visit, as its owners are obviously profiting off of barely legal means and they know it.

Here's how to avoid giving these jerks money:

* Avoid typing addresses directly into the URL bar. Use bookmarks and search engines instead.
* If you see a website that looks like the one above (especially if it has the motto "What you need, when you need it"), immediately hit the Back button and do not visit that site again.
* Use a little common sense. If you find a website called, for instance, "cats.com" and it has pet care links but also links to movie downloads and sports news on the same page, it's a cybersquatter. (I tried cats.com to see if it was a cybersquatter, and although it doesn't have the unrelated links it is still very suspicious looking and I am certain it is not a real site. Do not ever visit cats.com.)
* Adblock and Noscript will protect you if you accidentally visit a cybersquatter.
* You can avoid "Goggle" by making Google your homepage. Then you never need to type Google into the URL bar.

Here's a great article about cybersquatters:
http://thecoffeedesk.com/news/index.php/2009/06/23/what-you-need-when-you-need-it/

Two Articles About Technology

I have two worthwhile articles I found today that I'd like to share.

http://pandodaily.com/2012/01/17/confessions-of-a-publisher-were-in-amazons-sights-and-theyre-going-to-kill-us/

The printed book is in trouble. It has been for a while, but I expect things to speed up in the next few years. I posted yesterday about how technology marches on, and that's happening in the world of books right now. Above is a link to an article that includes an email from an anonymous insider in the publishing industry. Their failure to innovate or adapt to new technology has cost them big time, and the company set to steamroll the industry is none other than Amazon, the most popular shopping website in existence.

http://torrentfreak.com/white-house-petitioned-to-investigate-mpaa-bribery-120122/

Some of you may be sick and tired of all the posts I've been making about internet censorship and I apologize if I sound like a broken record, but it's been a very hot topic this week and it's one near and dear to me. If you read the above article you'll find a link to the very cool White House petition site, We The People. One of Barack Obama's neatest ideas, We The People allows users to make petitions that are reviewed directly by White House staff and given public responses. It's a great way to bring issues to national attention, and it played a big part in the fight against SOPA and PIPA. This petition seeks to strike back at Hollywood by getting the MPAA looked into for bribery charges. With the Internet blackout still fresh, it's a good time to get the pendulum swinging the other way and seeing if the Internet can pull off a counterattack. I signed the petition (this whole SOPA mess made me a bit of an advocate, as you may have noticed), and they need just 548 more signatures to meet the minimum 25,000 required to force a response from the White House. The more signatures, the more power the petition has, so feel free to join in!

Update on the Internet Censorship Bills

Yesterday I joined millions of people in the biggest Internet protest in the history of the world. I hope you did too. By working together, we managed to take what seemed to be a sure-to-pass bill and severely crippled it. Over 4.5 million people signed the petition Google offered yesterday, and millions more signatures came in from Avaaz, PopVox, and other sites. Thanks to the blackouts of sites like Wikipedia, this movement finally hit the mainstream. The situation is clear: The American people overwhelmingly reject the censorship of the Internet, and the entertainment industry is going to have to try something else if they want to rake in more cash.

And Congress is listening. At least 18 politicians have done an about-face on their opinion of the bills, including several who co-sponsored PIPA. And while Lamar Smith of Texas is still standing by SOPA, Patrick Leahy of Vermont is getting wary of his bill, PIPA. And most importantly, just before the protests, an official statement from the White House made it clear that Barack Obama would not support Internet censorship.

If you haven't yet done your part to help, or if you'd like to do more, it's not too late! PIPA is scheduled for a vote on January 24, while SOPA is due for some additional reworking in February. If you haven't yet, please contact your congressmen and let them know that you prefer a free and open Internet.

Here's an article on the effects of the protest.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71562.html

This website shows who stands where on the SOPA and PIPA bills. If your congressman is still supporting this dangerous legislation (or is undecided), it's not too late to contact them and voice your disapproval!
http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

This Week In Biology

Here's a quick look at some of the latest news in biology and animal studies.

Gonatocerus ovicenatus, a tiny fairyfly related to wasps, has been seen for the first time in 100 years.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-wasp-rediscovered-years.html

100 baby seals washed up on the coast of the Netherlands. Researchers claim it's because of overfishing and pollution weakening the animals enough for waves to sweep them away.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-baby-dutch-coast.html

A study has found that some species of fish grow used to certain temperatures, and condition their young to be used to these temperatures as well. Babies raised at the same temperature as their parents grew faster.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-fish-offspring-temperature-parents.html

A new species of monkey was discovered in 2010, but not photographed alive until this week. The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey lives in forested mountains near China, which is part of why it had gone undiscovered for so long.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-images-newly-primate.html

Scientists trying to stop the spread of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases are trying a radically different approach - instead of trying to wipe out mosquitoes (which is well nigh impossible and could disrupt food chains), why not try and make mosquitoes unable to transmit malaria? Scientists are now beginning the previously-unknown task of studying the immune system of the mosquito.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-anti-viral-immune-pathway-mosquito.html

And finally, a new species of snake (a viper, specifically) was found in Tanzania two years ago and has officially been described and named this week. Researcher Tim Davenport was part of the three-man team that discovered the snake, which grows to 2 feet long. Davenport's 5-year-old daughter Matilda was present as well, and she "became fascinated by it and used to love spending time watching it and helping us look after it", he says. "We called it Matilda's Viper at that stage... and the name stuck." That's right, the species is officially named Matilda's Viper. It is believed to have a poisonous bite, but Matilda's Viper has a surprisingly calm and laid-back disposition. Davenport said he "handled one on a number of occasions". I assume Matilda didn't get to hold it, though!
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/11/new-venomous-snake-species-discovered-in-tanzania/

Amphibians, Big and Small

Let's talk a bit about amphibians.

The word "amphibian" means "double life". This refers to the life cycle of frogs and other amphibians - they start out as aquatic animals (tadpoles) before growing up into animals that can live on land (frogs). Aside from frogs and toads, salamanders and newts are also amphibians, as well as a few rarer and lesser-known creatures.

Scientists are always discovering new species of animals, and frogs are one of the more common creatures to pop up on "Newly Discovered" lists. A new frog has been found in Papua New Guinea, and it's one of the smallest invertebrates ever found. The frog averages 7 millimeters long (that works out to 0.27 of an inch). For comparison, a dime is 18 millimeters across.

In direct contrast to this tiny frog, the largest amphibian has been known for quite some time - the Chinese giant salamander can reach six feet in length. Sadly, this very interesting - if not conventionally attractive - creature is critically endangered and almost never gets to reach that size anymore. Thanks to pollution, habitat loss, and the fact that some Chinese consider it a delicacy, the giant salamander generally only grows to 4 feet on average. It has a relative, the Japanese giant salamander, that is almost exactly the same in appearance and habits, although it is a little smaller.

In prehistoric times, amphibians got even larger than six feet. The all-time largest amphibian known to man is Prionosuchus, a prehistoric creature that looked more like a crocodile than today's amphibians, and could reach a length of thirty feet. It went extinct a very long time ago - even before the dinosaurs first appeared.

World's smallest frog:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16491477

Photo slideshow dedicated to the giant salamander:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8500486.stm

The biggest amphibian of all time, the extinct Prionosuchus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prionosuchus

Why Do Some People Fear Snakes and Spiders?

A "phobia" is an irrational fear of something. Someone with a phobia will not only be afraid to confront their fear, but they may get extremely worked up just reading about it, seeing it on TV, or talking about it with someone else. Common phobias include achluophobia (fear of the dark), acrophobia (fear of heights), glossophobia (fear of speaking in public), necrophobia (fear of death or dead things), and coulrophobia (fear of clowns). The two phobias I'm talking about today, however, are arachnophobia and ophidiophobia - the fear of spiders and the fear of snakes, respectively.

While I do have some "fears", of a sort, such as a problem with meeting strangers and, when I was younger, a severe dislike and fear of earthworms, I do not have any true phobias. I count both spiders and snakes as two of my favorite animals - but the opinion isn't shared in my home. I seem to be the only member of my family who can stand snakes - which makes it all the more remarkable that I have one as a pet.

I'll be posting about my pet snake later. First, I've wanted to figure this question out for quite some time - why are so many people afraid of snakes and spiders? Why those two animals? Why not crocodiles or bears or sharks? Mosquitoes kill more people every year than any other animal by spreading disease, so why are they treated with annoyance rather than fear? There must be something in the human psyche that makes spiders and snakes stand out as especially fearsome, even when there are so many harmless members of either animal (especially spiders).

A study reported on in National Geographic back in 2001 claims that recognizing snakes and spiders as dangerous is ingrained in our minds from evolution. Primitive man, who lived in the wild far from today's comforts of enclosed, insulated homes, often had to be on alert for predators. Snakes, which tend to rely on stealth and can hide easily due to their shape, may have been a high priority target to memorize the appearance of. Spiders are harder to explain, thanks to the species that can truly threaten humans being fairly uncommon.

While I understand that some people can have phobias, I grow worried when I hear of prejudice against snakes and spiders just because they are snakes and spiders. A snake may be a far cry from a cat or dog, but it's very possible to own one and bond with it in some fashion. Millions of people are afraid of snakes and spiders, but there are also many folks out there who keep these feared animals as beloved pets. There are cases of people's pet snakes being killed by people who feared them. I've linked to one of the most memorable cases of anti-snake violence below. Even if you don't care for certain animals, you should never hurt or kill someone's pet just because it's a species you don't happen to like.

A list of the many, many phobias that have been coined over the years:
http://phobialist.com/

National Geographic's article on snake and spider fear:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1004_snakefears.html

The sad story of Popcorn the ten-foot albino python:
http://local.cincinnati.com/share/news/story.aspx?sid=117013&cid=100004

Much Ado About Gift Cards

Having Asperger's Syndrome tends to infuse a bit of extra thought into situations other people don't think much about. One of those things is the gift card. Why do gift cards exist?

Think about it. You give fifty dollars to a store in exchange for a card that can buy fifty dollars worth of merchandise at only that store. And depending on the store and the state you live in, it may expire. Despite the fact that gift cards are objectively worse than paper money, they are a very popular gift item for kids and adults alike.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that about 41 billion dollars has been wasted on gift cards the recipients never use. They may have lost the card. It may have expired. Or maybe they simply forgot the card existed.

Generally, I prefer money to gift cards. As someone who likes to think practically, an all-purpose, guaranteed-useful gift like money is perfect if the giver isn't certain what I would like that I don't already have. Unfortunately, the popularity of gift cards is due to the fact that people generally don't think giving money as a gift is very socially acceptable. It can seem lazy. Honestly, I'd prefer lazy over potentially worthless, but a lot of people don't agree with me.

However, I have found a use for gift cards recently: Shopping online without Paypal. If you use your credit card to buy online, you'll be in debt to the credit card company and have to pay interest. If you use a gift card, you can buy things interest-free. As someone who finds credit cards distasteful, I appreciate this method of dodging them. If you have an Amazon or eBay purchase to make and you don't have any Paypal funds (or don't wish to deal with them for whatever reason), buying yourself a gift card is a unique way to pay for your stuff. As a bonus, eBay gift cards never expire.

 http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/24/number-of-the-week-billions-in-gift-cards-go-unspent/?mod=google_news_blog

 http://gothamist.com/2011/12/27/41_billion_in_lousy_gift_cards_will.php

It's Okay for Guys to Like Purple

(In all posts like this where I am discussing a news article, I'll have the article linked at the end of my post so you can research the topic further and draw your own conclusions.)

I just came across this article, and I could not kick off my blog any better. It's perfect. This is the tale of a brave and smart older brother, his special younger brother, and a father with a few things to learn. It's not my tale. But I hope I would have done the same if I had been in the older brother's situation.

Two brothers, one in his mid teens and the other a preteen, are shopping. The older brother is going to buy a game as a present for his younger brother. The younger one is adamant about one thing: The main character of the game must be female. Now, games with female leads are unfortunately difficult to come by, but with the help of an employee they found the game Mirror's Edge. Next, the boy wants to know if there are any "girl controllers" that he could play Mirror's Edge with. He selected a purple controller, excitedly telling the clerk that purple was his favorite.

Enter dad.

The "man of the house" is not impressed with his son being so in touch with his feminine side, and he has a different game idea: Dead Island. Dead Island is one of the many horror zombie games out on the market today, and there's lots of guns and gore. However, the kid was steadfast in his selection, and things began to escalate. The father began threatening his son over his choice of game.

Now, if that wasn't bad enough already, consider this: Mirror's Edge is an action-adventure game. The protagonist can wield weapons (including the guns Dad was so insistent about), although it isn't about shooting all of your enemies into oblivion. In fact, the game congratulates the player if they manage to finish the whole thing without shooting anyone. The important point is that Mirror's Edge is a far cry from, say, Hello Kitty Roller Rescue in terms of "girly games". And it doesn't look like any sort of "barbie game" from the box art. It seems that what Dad was so stuck on was the fact that you play as a girl and that he wanted a purple controller to control her with. That's all.

Fortunately, the older brother didn't feel the same way as his father. He chose this moment to step in. "It's my money, it's my gift to him. If it's what he wants, I'm getting it for him, and if you're going to hit anyone for it, it's going to be me." Little brother was crying now, but the employee (who saw the whole thing and wound up writing the article I've found) helped comfort the child. She said, "I'm a girl, and I like the color blue, and I like shooting games. There's nothing wrong with what you like. Even if it's different than what people think you should."

We have been moving towards a more tolerant future for all types of people for a long time. Incidents like this show that while we may have a ways to go, there is hope for a future free of bigotry - or at least with so little of it that it's no longer a major issue.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-wolfe/dear-customer-who-stuck-u_b_1190690.html