Browsed by
Month: February 2009

My Interaction With an Aim Spambot

My Interaction With an Aim Spambot

Comments 0 Comment

I recently experienced a wave of nostalgia when I was contacted by an Aim spambot in AOL instant messanger. Back in 1999-2001, highschool for me, a few of my friends and I were adament AIM users. Every once in a while, one of us would give an aimbot the name of someone to initiate contact with, and wait to see what the person would have to say about it, after mentioning it in conversation or somehow bringing it up. Apparently today my screen name got picked up by an aim spambot, and the following conversation is the result. I have done a lot in software development and computing in general, and I look forward to the day when such interactions are more realistic. Please also note that “lol.. wat” is something I almost never ever say in chat.. I just thought it would be funny to say to someone I didnt know, in reply to something equally outrageous 🙂

[11:59] ProbedCoho: Ye may think I be a pirate, yarr, but the truth be that I be a proper privateer!  Yarrr!
[12:00] sanimalp: lol.. wat?
[12:00] sanimalp: oh.
[12:01] ProbedCoho: who is this?
[12:01] sanimalp: this is jon.. who is this?
[12:01] ProbedCoho: and yes
[12:02] ProbedCoho: sean
[12:02] sanimalp: hmm.. sean who?
[12:02] sanimalp: its cool i dont need to know.. i just dont know any sean’s…
[12:03] ProbedCoho: ryon
[12:03] sanimalp: hmm, well my name is jon steege. i don’t know that i know you.. but i happen to be a ninja… so that makes us mortal enemies..
[12:03] ProbedCoho: ok…
[12:04] sanimalp: how did you get this aim name?
[12:04] ProbedCoho: …what?
[12:04] sanimalp: lol..
[12:05] sanimalp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_versus_Ninjas
[12:05] ProbedCoho: i didn’t…you messaged me
[12:05] sanimalp: i did?
[12:05] sanimalp: hmm.
[12:06] sanimalp: you started with :

[11:59] ProbedCoho: Ye may think I be a pirate, yarr, but the truth be that I be a proper privateer!  Yarrr!
[12:06] ProbedCoho: yeup
[12:06] sanimalp: ok
[12:07] sanimalp: that was the initiation of the contact from my side.. i didnt send a message to you.. so if you did get a message from me.. then something fishy is going on..
[12:07] ProbedCoho: no i didn’t
[12:07] sanimalp: uh.. didnt what?
[12:08] ProbedCoho: yeah it would appear so
[12:08] sanimalp: what is 37 times 186 sean?
[12:08] ProbedCoho: huh?
[12:09] sanimalp: i was wondering if you could do the math to prove you are not an aim bot..
[12:09] sanimalp: heh
[12:09] sanimalp: cause that is always a fun test..
[12:09] sanimalp: back in the old days, there used to be aim bots.. they seem to have died out, but some were rather convincing.. they happened to really suck at math though.. its the whole turing test deal..
[12:10] ProbedCoho: how about no?
[12:10] ProbedCoho: oh ok
[12:10] sanimalp: alright. sure.
[12:10] ProbedCoho: oh ok
[12:10] ProbedCoho: gotcha
[12:12] sanimalp: nice.. you are an aim bot..
[12:13] sanimalp: sorry you failed the turing test. see you later..
[12:13] ProbedCoho: or no
[12:13] ProbedCoho: does not compute //:
[12:13] sanimalp: lol..
[12:15] ProbedCoho: what now?
[12:16] sanimalp: for(int i =0;i>-1;i++){}

Unfortunatly, I will never get the satisfaction of knowing if the bot entered an infinite loop, but it did stop replying after that! My guess is that it did not.. but I can hope.

Home Depreciation & The $8000 Tax Credit

Home Depreciation & The $8000 Tax Credit

Comments 0 Comment

The hot news out today from the Stimulous Bill is that “new home buyers” will receive an $8k tax credit if they close on a home between Jan. 1st 2009 and Nov. 30th 2009. There are some stipulations on this money, as the definition of “new home buyer” only means someone who hasn’t owned a house in the last 3 years, and the full $8k is only available to single people making less than $75k/year and married people making less than $150k/year.  Despite the stipulations, it seems like a lucrative deal.. but is it really?

Some of you may know that I recently got married, and as such, have been thinking about getting into the housing market. My conclusion currently is that it is way too early, but this tax credit made me think twice about my position. A free, almost no strings attached $8000 is a lucrative deal, but is it a financially sound decision to buy a house in this market? My conclusion is as follows:

Housing prices have been falling for the better part of a year and a half now. Data Shows that “Median Sales Price of Existing Single-Family Homes for Metropolitan Areas” have fallen 12.4% over the past year, and there has been no appreciable increase in housing prices according to the NAR since late 2006.  For those who are math averse, lets do the calculation to see how much your house would be worth if you bought a $200k house in 2008 and have now experienced the 12.4% median price depreciation.

200,000 – (200,000 * .124) = $175,200

That.. looks painful. For those that do the math, it is clear that even IF the rate of depreciation slows to a meager 4%, if you buy a house for $200k, that $8k will barely cover the depreciation you will most likely see this year… Unless you know a specific market where the value of houses is going up, it is probably a good idea to wait it out, even with an $8k carrot dangling in front of your nose.


The Worst Top Gear Episode Ever..

The Worst Top Gear Episode Ever..

Comments 2 comments

Top Gear is the unofficial favorite car show amongst contributors here at MyComputerNinja. Nearly every episode falls into the category of “Great Automotive Video Journalism”. The episodes seem to just keep getting better, but there HAS to be a bad one here or there.. every show has them. Happy Days has the now infamous shark jumping episode, and of course, we have the Indiana Jones series nuking of the fridge.

In reviewing many of the Top Gear episodes, the staff of MyComputerNinja presents the Worst episode of Top Gear:

Click Here To See The Worst Top Gear Episode EVER