When one begins to peel away the layers of their mind when they are bored one night and have nothing better to do, you can create environments that fool you into feeling spiritual, euphoric, nostalgic, or pretty any way you would like. Many people interpret this as a vision, or some other type of legendary folklore, however it is my beleife that this is simply one of the mechanisms in our own mind at work. When you dig into your mind trying to figure out who you are, you mind might not have an answer, so it begins ramdomly throwing stimulus at you to see what you persue and what you discard, hopeing that you can discover what you like and what you don't about your own personality. I beleive that most of the confusion in today's youth could be easilly attributed to the under development of this mechanism.
Many religeous groups in the past have attempted to explore this idea, however they always apply their own templates of what the outcome should be, therefor forcing a certain type of influence on something that should be free to form on it's own. If somoene is more adept to technology then the amish would be detrimental to the development of this person, vice versa if someone was naturalistic and they were being influenced by a group of geeks, then this would be equally detrimental. It is my beleif that people should be free to explore this part of themselves on their own, with no outside influence, other then the support of their friends, familly, and loved ones.
I do not beleive that this particular part of our mind either contributes nor takes away from any spiritual belif system as it's something that our minds have developed to help us define who we are when we have completed the changes of puberty and growth. This is nothing more then a subconsious method of self-development and life-span evolution.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Internal Combustion Brain.
A lot of people these days (and perhaps it's been going on for a long time, and I'm simply noticing it more) love to use unfair and innacurate generalisations to accuse huge groups of people for one or a few people's mistakes. The most recognisable of these are woman saying "All men are....." and the equivilant men saying "All women are.....". The more I hear of these kinds of gross generalisations, the more disgusted with humanity I become. People treat each other unfairly all the time, but to treat everyone unfairly, all at the same time, and insult them, bash them, and be generally rude, demeans the person uttering the generalisation.
Using the above example, I can understand people who just had a relationship problem being upset, perhaps they were treated unfairly, or worse, cheated on. But that is no excuse for calling every member of the opposite gender an insulting name simply because one of them (and perhaps more in the past) have caused them a problem. how do they know that because mr A, mr B, and mr C all cheated on them, that mr X will do the same, for all they know, Mr X will be the sweetest guy alive. he might be the same, he might be even worse, you just don't know. And the only real differences (other then the obvious biological differences) between men and women, are ones created by what is considered socialy acceptable.
If men were raised to play with barbie dolls and to love pink colors, and all women raised to enjoy sports, wrestling, and fighting. Then that's the way it would be. None of these activities are particularly masuline or femenine, it's just that more men are raised to like certain things, and more women raised to like others. I personally see nothing wrong with women enjoying anything men enjoy, or the vice versa, in fact I don't label ANY activity as masculine or femenine. Although I do admit to a few things I submit to, such as a "Guys night", and that I tend to shy away from some femenine activities, not because I don't want to look (and I hate the term used so stereotypically) "Gay" (and I'm as straight as they come, though, I have nothing against gay people) but, moreso because that's how I was raised, it's what I'm used to, and those things tend not to interest me thus.
Gender issues aside, there are also people who love to jump in and insult someone without bothering to think, or use any part of their brain other then the part that assembles speech patterns and/or typing abilities. The sort of people who would reply to this with "Your Gay", or who jump in chat rooms insulting random people for no reason. You can sit there and think "Yeah, I hate those people" but you yourself are one of them. Mind you your probably not as bad, but how many times have you ridiculed someone because they disagreed with you, or because you thought you were right, and turned out to be wrong. I'm not saying you shouldn't defend yourself, but greater care should be taken to keep to the defensive and completly get rid of the offensive tendancies we have. But if you remember only one part of what I've typed here, remember this. NO MORE UNFAIR GENERALISATIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE UPSET, I plead with you as a fellow member of the human race. and in case you beleive I'm making a generalisation by saying everyone makes generalisations. Well, putting aside that it's psychologically proven that we all do, even me, I am simply pleading with those who do it moreso then others.
Using the above example, I can understand people who just had a relationship problem being upset, perhaps they were treated unfairly, or worse, cheated on. But that is no excuse for calling every member of the opposite gender an insulting name simply because one of them (and perhaps more in the past) have caused them a problem. how do they know that because mr A, mr B, and mr C all cheated on them, that mr X will do the same, for all they know, Mr X will be the sweetest guy alive. he might be the same, he might be even worse, you just don't know. And the only real differences (other then the obvious biological differences) between men and women, are ones created by what is considered socialy acceptable.
If men were raised to play with barbie dolls and to love pink colors, and all women raised to enjoy sports, wrestling, and fighting. Then that's the way it would be. None of these activities are particularly masuline or femenine, it's just that more men are raised to like certain things, and more women raised to like others. I personally see nothing wrong with women enjoying anything men enjoy, or the vice versa, in fact I don't label ANY activity as masculine or femenine. Although I do admit to a few things I submit to, such as a "Guys night", and that I tend to shy away from some femenine activities, not because I don't want to look (and I hate the term used so stereotypically) "Gay" (and I'm as straight as they come, though, I have nothing against gay people) but, moreso because that's how I was raised, it's what I'm used to, and those things tend not to interest me thus.
Gender issues aside, there are also people who love to jump in and insult someone without bothering to think, or use any part of their brain other then the part that assembles speech patterns and/or typing abilities. The sort of people who would reply to this with "Your Gay", or who jump in chat rooms insulting random people for no reason. You can sit there and think "Yeah, I hate those people" but you yourself are one of them. Mind you your probably not as bad, but how many times have you ridiculed someone because they disagreed with you, or because you thought you were right, and turned out to be wrong. I'm not saying you shouldn't defend yourself, but greater care should be taken to keep to the defensive and completly get rid of the offensive tendancies we have. But if you remember only one part of what I've typed here, remember this. NO MORE UNFAIR GENERALISATIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE UPSET, I plead with you as a fellow member of the human race. and in case you beleive I'm making a generalisation by saying everyone makes generalisations. Well, putting aside that it's psychologically proven that we all do, even me, I am simply pleading with those who do it moreso then others.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
The 4 dimensions and Religeon
Someone once said to me that somewhere, some scholor and thelogin had deducted that god had left us the first 10 dimensions to explore, and the 11th is where he left as heaven and so on, now not getting into the technical aspects of 5 and up, It got me thinking, and it almost makes sence, except for one factor that doesn't quite line up. We have the ability to explore the first 3 dimensions as it is, length, width, and height. (X, Y, and Z). However the most popular (and least disproven) line of thought is that the 4th dimension is time. This seems to make perfect sence, as we are mostly 4 dimensional beings, slowly traversing the 4th dimension but withough controll of how we do so, we CAN slow it down by accellerating at a tremendous rate (as we approach the speed of light, time slows down) but that is the extend of our influence over the 4th dimension. we can move backward and forth at will within the first 3, but we cannot skip forward or backward in time. There for if god had allowed us the first 10, or even completly the first 4, we should be able to traverse time at will, or even assuming we learned to do so, then we would be able to go backward in time to meet Jesus, or go forward to visit the second coming (this also assumes that you are a follower of the christian faith, however, in order to beleive "God" gave us the first 10 to explore, this would have to be so). This doesn't make sence, why would god give us ten, when even giving us 4 would undermine his very prophecies. I am then led to assume that either the theory of giving us the first 10 to explore is false, or that the prophecy of his second coming is not based on time. (or for some, that the both of them are false). The only possible explanation would then be that he gave us them to "Explore" in that definition only. Meaning that we cannot traverse, but only sence, and view them. Even still, this would undermine the "faith without proof" concept meaning that we could See the second coming, or see backwards to his visit to earth, and Have the proof we need. I there for discount the theory that god gave us 10 dimensions to explore.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Civilized Debate VS. Insane Screaming.
Why do so many people have to scream like an amazonian Raised-by-animals nut everytime something doesn't go their way. I see no problem in simply and calmly debating a point our untill either one side is proven right, or even if it comes out unresolved, at least both people can come out of the argument without broking anything.
I'll be the first to admit I'm far from perfect, but some people can be so easilly upsettable and so violent it's disgusting. I can yell sometimes I admit, but it's very rare and it always involves either false accusation, or being slandered falsely, and after coming out of those arguments, I feel horrible for having raised my voice. So it makes me wonder what is wired so wrongly in these people's minds that makes them feel the need to scream and yell just because someone said chocolate instead of vanilla.
Someone might have just read that and thought "I yell sometimes but not over something as silly as a flavor", but what you need to understnad is there is almost NEVER a reason to yell and scream anymore. I mean sure people who constnatly interrupt you and raise THEIR voice to shut you out can be frustrating...what am I saying, BEYOND frustrating, but if you don't raise your voice, then you come out of the argument not only looking better (especially usefull in the event of an audience) but you can also just walk off in the middle of their sentance (pisses them off more then yelling back ever will) and if someone is yelling and screaming at YOU in an argument, don't yell back, because someone yelling at you is NOT going to be convinced.
Regardless, Civilised intelligent people simply follow a normal process. If something they don't like is happening, calmly and politely explain the situation and how it effects you to the other party, now I know there are a few situations where this would be stupid, but around the home, and in most situations, this is simply better, more intelligent, and ultimatly, leaves you looking better. Don't think it will work, here's a few tips, if the other person is yelling and screaming, you can simply stare at them with a look of disgust on your face, or if what they are saying is obviously wrong, or easy to disprove, laugh, giggle, even pretend like spittle just flew into the corner of your eye, these things will piss them off even more and perhaps they may get violent, if they do, and hit you, guess what, this isn't the end of the world, not only do you look better, but you now have a LEGAL EDGE over them, heck the worse they do, the better you can screw them over. Cold hard CASH!
So stop with all the yelling, petty bickering, and violence, it will only land you on the opposite end of a jailcell, or loose you most of your friends. Who knows, you might loose them to me, and I'm not much of a person, so take care, and use your brain.
I'll be the first to admit I'm far from perfect, but some people can be so easilly upsettable and so violent it's disgusting. I can yell sometimes I admit, but it's very rare and it always involves either false accusation, or being slandered falsely, and after coming out of those arguments, I feel horrible for having raised my voice. So it makes me wonder what is wired so wrongly in these people's minds that makes them feel the need to scream and yell just because someone said chocolate instead of vanilla.
Someone might have just read that and thought "I yell sometimes but not over something as silly as a flavor", but what you need to understnad is there is almost NEVER a reason to yell and scream anymore. I mean sure people who constnatly interrupt you and raise THEIR voice to shut you out can be frustrating...what am I saying, BEYOND frustrating, but if you don't raise your voice, then you come out of the argument not only looking better (especially usefull in the event of an audience) but you can also just walk off in the middle of their sentance (pisses them off more then yelling back ever will) and if someone is yelling and screaming at YOU in an argument, don't yell back, because someone yelling at you is NOT going to be convinced.
Regardless, Civilised intelligent people simply follow a normal process. If something they don't like is happening, calmly and politely explain the situation and how it effects you to the other party, now I know there are a few situations where this would be stupid, but around the home, and in most situations, this is simply better, more intelligent, and ultimatly, leaves you looking better. Don't think it will work, here's a few tips, if the other person is yelling and screaming, you can simply stare at them with a look of disgust on your face, or if what they are saying is obviously wrong, or easy to disprove, laugh, giggle, even pretend like spittle just flew into the corner of your eye, these things will piss them off even more and perhaps they may get violent, if they do, and hit you, guess what, this isn't the end of the world, not only do you look better, but you now have a LEGAL EDGE over them, heck the worse they do, the better you can screw them over. Cold hard CASH!
So stop with all the yelling, petty bickering, and violence, it will only land you on the opposite end of a jailcell, or loose you most of your friends. Who knows, you might loose them to me, and I'm not much of a person, so take care, and use your brain.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Music alters your mind.
Weather your listning to your favorite song, standing in en elevator listning to your least favorite song, or even Writing a song. Music affects us all in discernable ways. I was just perusing my Winamp playlist when I came acrost some music files lingering on my hard drive that I hadn't listened to since I was 9. I loaded them up and experienced a few moments of pure nostalgia. The wonderfull feeling of being that young again, and remembering what it was like to have no worries beyond "what to sneak into shool tomorrow".
I write my own music under the name "DJ D-Nyed" and I'm always looking to create a new and/or interesting way to create an emotion in a listner. I've been succesfull so far in making my listners feel annoyed, or bored, but I'd much rather give them some of the feelings I have when writing music. To me my music reminds me of both a longing sensation, seeking out something that I may never have, and a sence of energy. Energy isn't always that difficult, all you need is a good beat, and something that fits well to it. But creating that sence of longing isn't always so easy.
Have you ever been just listning to the radio, or walking thru the mall, and hear a song that used to be an old favorite, and that you haven't heard in years, and for that simple fact alone it strikes an emotion into you, like memory. Here's an experiement you can try at home. Find a song that you used to love, if possible, one that you even used to obsess over. It MUST be a song that you haven't heard in a long long time, download this song and play it thru, see what it does to you. The younger you were the last time you heard it, the more profound the effect.
I'm always very interested in "How-To" create emotions thru music. I've learned all the "Classical" ways of doing so, but with the ever increasing popularity of electronic music, rap, and other contemporary forms of music, I'm constantly seeking new ways. I do prefer the instrumental over lyrical, but if anyone has any comments to aid me in my education, please feel welcome to contribute.
I write my own music under the name "DJ D-Nyed" and I'm always looking to create a new and/or interesting way to create an emotion in a listner. I've been succesfull so far in making my listners feel annoyed, or bored, but I'd much rather give them some of the feelings I have when writing music. To me my music reminds me of both a longing sensation, seeking out something that I may never have, and a sence of energy. Energy isn't always that difficult, all you need is a good beat, and something that fits well to it. But creating that sence of longing isn't always so easy.
Have you ever been just listning to the radio, or walking thru the mall, and hear a song that used to be an old favorite, and that you haven't heard in years, and for that simple fact alone it strikes an emotion into you, like memory. Here's an experiement you can try at home. Find a song that you used to love, if possible, one that you even used to obsess over. It MUST be a song that you haven't heard in a long long time, download this song and play it thru, see what it does to you. The younger you were the last time you heard it, the more profound the effect.
I'm always very interested in "How-To" create emotions thru music. I've learned all the "Classical" ways of doing so, but with the ever increasing popularity of electronic music, rap, and other contemporary forms of music, I'm constantly seeking new ways. I do prefer the instrumental over lyrical, but if anyone has any comments to aid me in my education, please feel welcome to contribute.
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Mad Human Disease
People are always fighing one another, it seems that no one really cares about anything but themselves, and how they appear to others, becuase this facilitates their ability to steal energy from them. When you engage in a conversation, one of two things happens, you come out of it feeling either uplifted, or drained somehow. People never seem to realise that there are better things we could be doing. When you are intimate with someone, usually you both come out of it feeling uplifted and energised, that's an obvious one, what other things can you think of that give you a feeling of energy and motivation.
What gives us energy is usually quite different from one person to another, hence why we all like different kinds of music, different TV shows, websites, sports, you name it. And when someone who is drained, notices you with an abundance of energy, they have to beat you down, make you feel horrible, so they can feel better, in a sence, they have stolen your energy, and you feel compelled to insult them back and reclaim this energy. What we need to do is just build up new energy. Then there will be more of it out there, and people won't have such an epidemic of depression. In a sence, look at your friends, look at the people who make you happy in your life, Start careing about them, and when you have that down, try to care, even if only a little, about everyone.
What gives us energy is usually quite different from one person to another, hence why we all like different kinds of music, different TV shows, websites, sports, you name it. And when someone who is drained, notices you with an abundance of energy, they have to beat you down, make you feel horrible, so they can feel better, in a sence, they have stolen your energy, and you feel compelled to insult them back and reclaim this energy. What we need to do is just build up new energy. Then there will be more of it out there, and people won't have such an epidemic of depression. In a sence, look at your friends, look at the people who make you happy in your life, Start careing about them, and when you have that down, try to care, even if only a little, about everyone.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
A poem (my 32nd)
A world, Set apart, as in one's own mind
To see things, and want things, that you may never find
the desire, in mind, can drive you insane
so completly, and fillingly, from the all the pain.
A world, Set apart, to see things a little different
to be at war, with one's self, never quite content
the purile pain, eating away, at my soal
as if to bring my death, was the absolute goal
A world, Set apart, but always the same
never quite alone, but so far from fame
But there is a point, to this endless debate
to make someone happy, even if for you, it brings hate.
To see things, and want things, that you may never find
the desire, in mind, can drive you insane
so completly, and fillingly, from the all the pain.
A world, Set apart, to see things a little different
to be at war, with one's self, never quite content
the purile pain, eating away, at my soal
as if to bring my death, was the absolute goal
A world, Set apart, but always the same
never quite alone, but so far from fame
But there is a point, to this endless debate
to make someone happy, even if for you, it brings hate.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
What the internet is
A large number of people look at the internet and all they think of is Web pages and Web sites, maybe Instant messangers as well, but what few people realise is that HTML, MSN, AIM, YAHOOIM, ICQ, IRC, all these are merely one portion of what the internet itself has to offer.
Forexample, There is a slightly depreciated group of systems called FTP & TELNET (ammong others) which allow direct file exchange, as well as direct text communication, now this has been automated by instant messangers, and CGI/ASP/PHP based HTML File sharing sites, however they still exist as a simpler and more efficiant way to get that done.
The internet itself, the root component that makes it work, is a language called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). Now what this does take any information intended to leave one computer and enter another, and perform that task. TCP/IP uses IP addresses to decide where it's coming from, where it's going to, and what computers it must pas thru in order to get there. In short an IP address is just like a phone number, in order to call a phone, you must know it's phone number, in order to send information directly to a computer (using TCP/IP alone) you must know it's IP address.
Here is an example: A phone number: (905) 555-1212 An IP address: 214.226.193.121
Now the internet has been automated with services intended to make this simpler such as DNS (Domain naming system) which replaces that number, with a .com (or .ca, .org, .net, ...) and there for you only need to memorise www.yahoo.ca instead of 66.218.71.198. But as you can see, none of this has anything to do with web pages, or web sites.
The basis for the internet is not a way for people to access a web page, or run a web site, the internet is simply the tool being used, for example, the telephone system is most popularly used for people to call one another, but we also use it to connect to the internet, to send a fax, to send an SMS message from our cellphone, and many more purposes. Although the Telephone was INTENDED for voice, it is used for many things, the Internet however was simply intended as a means to get data from one point to another.
Having said this I'm not trying to point out that there is anything wrong with HTML, web pages or web sites, far from it, I love them! I run quite a few myself, but what I'm trying to say is that that's not all the internet is, for example, E-Mail is another service I haven't touched upon. Net2phone has made placing a phone call possible using your computer. Kazaa, Morpheus, Imesh, Grokster, Bearshare, EMule, ScourExchange and Napster were only the most popular of programs intended to share music.
Knowing this, it also brings a bigger question to mind, What's next?
Forexample, There is a slightly depreciated group of systems called FTP & TELNET (ammong others) which allow direct file exchange, as well as direct text communication, now this has been automated by instant messangers, and CGI/ASP/PHP based HTML File sharing sites, however they still exist as a simpler and more efficiant way to get that done.
The internet itself, the root component that makes it work, is a language called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). Now what this does take any information intended to leave one computer and enter another, and perform that task. TCP/IP uses IP addresses to decide where it's coming from, where it's going to, and what computers it must pas thru in order to get there. In short an IP address is just like a phone number, in order to call a phone, you must know it's phone number, in order to send information directly to a computer (using TCP/IP alone) you must know it's IP address.
Here is an example: A phone number: (905) 555-1212 An IP address: 214.226.193.121
Now the internet has been automated with services intended to make this simpler such as DNS (Domain naming system) which replaces that number, with a .com (or .ca, .org, .net, ...) and there for you only need to memorise www.yahoo.ca instead of 66.218.71.198. But as you can see, none of this has anything to do with web pages, or web sites.
The basis for the internet is not a way for people to access a web page, or run a web site, the internet is simply the tool being used, for example, the telephone system is most popularly used for people to call one another, but we also use it to connect to the internet, to send a fax, to send an SMS message from our cellphone, and many more purposes. Although the Telephone was INTENDED for voice, it is used for many things, the Internet however was simply intended as a means to get data from one point to another.
Having said this I'm not trying to point out that there is anything wrong with HTML, web pages or web sites, far from it, I love them! I run quite a few myself, but what I'm trying to say is that that's not all the internet is, for example, E-Mail is another service I haven't touched upon. Net2phone has made placing a phone call possible using your computer. Kazaa, Morpheus, Imesh, Grokster, Bearshare, EMule, ScourExchange and Napster were only the most popular of programs intended to share music.
Knowing this, it also brings a bigger question to mind, What's next?
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Audio Blog
I just ran up to the payphone up the street to try out the AudioBlog, it seems to sound great, and will prove a handy feature when I'm out and about.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Social Engineering
Admitantly being a bit of a coward, as well as being cursed with a consience, I have little experience in this field; however I have a multitude of knowledge and have assisted others in the same. Social Engineering is not all that dissimilar to the skills of a Con artist; the obvious differences are that a social engineer is more prepared for situations thru research, and technical means. A social engineer would research his target(s) and have pages of information that could provide useful.
Section 1.1 – Research & Preparation
Social engineering begins simply with your target. You need to be organized to determine exactly what information you do need. First write down all questions that you need answers to and have an accurate organization of all you need to know, there is nothing more frustrating then to do a whole week of research and work only to end up having forgotten a question, there are ways to recover from this, but they can be sketchy, and unnecessary.
Once you have a clear view of your goals, the next step is to research your target. You need to determine what interests your target has, and what methods would prove most effective to derive your needed information. For example, if your target is a technical support representative, you could pose as a client/customer with technical difficulties, this is an easy role, however it may not give you much opportunity for information gathering, other then some technical data. Alternatively you could pose as an out of town co-worker (for large companies such as call centers), or as a supervisor or investor. These roles require far more research, yet can result in all or most of your information being answered in one go.
It is also be important not to go strait to the information that you need answered, there are few times when this may be appropriate, but in most cases it’s better to use jazzed up small talk, or other questions that may seem useless to you, but will make it seem more routine for your target, and in some occasions, you never know it may give you useful information you didn’t even know you needed.
The next thing you need to research is the roles you may need to portray. It is a good idea to research more then you feel you will need; you never know when it will come in handy. But focus on the task at hand. Have a wide base of information so you have ground to cover with small talk, know current events, keep in touch with the news, read newspapers for anything relevant to the position so you can be prepared with comments like “did you hear about the strike in…” if it is relative to the target’s job or your own, they are likely to know about it, and can end up telling you about it, or you them.
Section 1.2 - Making your first call
Once you have sufficiently researched your target, you may feel that you are ready to call your target and begin collecting information. It is a good idea to review your notes and make certain that you are prepared, but if you feel confident, go for it.
Placing your first call is not an easy task, for most people this will make you nervous, don’t worry, that’s natural, if your not nervous then you have either done this many times before, or you may be overconfident and arrogant. Be careful of overconfidence, if can destroy your call in seconds. Being nervous can destroy your call with the same ferocity, but nervousness is easier to deal with (your probably thinking “easy for you to say”), with nervousness you are alert and prepared, the difficult part is making sure you speak clearly and without stuttering. If you do make any mistakes, just correct them as if you were the person you are trying to portray, and act as you think they would. You can even pretend or envision yourself actually employed by the company you are claiming to be from, do always say something because you think it’s what your target expects, but more because it’s what someone in your position should say.
While you are making this call be sure to be taking or typing notes. Record even the details that you think are useless, the best idea if you want your hands to be free and to be less occupied to read your notes is to purchase a phone tap with an audio cassette recorder. This way you can record your call and take notes later, you can also filter out background noise, or even listen to what people in the background are saying. You can also copy their hold messages while you are on hold to simulate your own hold system if in the future you plan to pretend to be from the target’s company.
If you do tape the calls then make sure that you always have more tapes handy, and that you are using extra long tapes, stop in your local Radio Shack and pick up 120 minute tapes (441-8157). This way your conversation can go up to 1 hour. If your conversation goes on past this, keep an eye on the tape, if it’s about to finish, place your target on hold for a moment, or simply say “just a moment” and pretend to speak to a co- worker, or to answer someone else’s question, use it to simulate that you are in an actual work environment. Then all you need to do is flip over the tape, or if you have already done so, switch tapes.
If you find your conversations taking up more then one tape, or even if very often you are flipping tapes, this means your conversations are exceeding 1 hour, meaning you are either very good, or you are on hold for a long time. However it could mean that you are taking too long to get to your point. If an employee feels that you are too chatty, or that you are wasting their time, they may become agitated; this is a very bad thing. However, if they are the one who is chatty, this can make your task a whole lot easier. Also keep in mind that if you get the feeling that they are stalling you, you may want to invent a reason to leave suddenly, for they may be trying to trap/trace your call.
Section 1.3 – Reviewing your notes/tapes
The hard part is over, but the work is not yet done. Quite often what someone said can be equally as important as how they said it. Also when you review tapes you can also pick up on things you didn’t notice or didn’t get the first time. Quite often you should listen to the tape more then once. With tapes you also can listen to what you said in the third person, and learn how to better yourself next time.
You can make your notes this time while you listen to the tapes, it is better to keep all your records as notes, rather then keeping the tapes, if you have the calls on tape then you have legal records against you if something should go wrong. However your notes would be less accusing to you, as well as being more thought out and easier to destroy. You can keep your notes on paper in a filing cabinet or accordion file. An increasingly popular way (and my favorite) is to type your notes and keep them on a computer or disk. This way you can encrypt them if you wish, or you can more quickly and efficiently destroy them. (Keep in mind, deleted files are not really deleted, you need hacker-like software such as a scrambler to properly delete a file so no one can recover it).
When writing your notes be sure to date them, and organize them in detailed point form as well as descriptions. You may have to rewrite your notes a few times, but this is the best way to make sure you know what you needed to know. Plus this way you have record in case you ever need to return, saving you have to do this all again.
Section 1.4 - Closure
Once you have your information, what you do with it is up to you. But be careful not to give yourself away, you will need to fight the urge to brag about how you pulled the wool over their eyes, or how you fooled them, but if you don’t give anything away then you have the power to do it again unsuspected, as well it makes your information more useful. And always remember one last thing, a computer hacker who never get's cought isn't always free because he's a good hacker, quite often they are smart enough to follow one simple rule that makes them very difficult to find. Do no damage, and no one is willing to spend the money to catch you. For example, if you were a computer hacker, and you write some virus that crash's a workplace server and they lose money, they want to investigate and catch you quickly. However, if they merely detect a break in, and there is no damage done, nothing missing, nothing harmed, chances are they can't justify the time and cost involved in hunting you down. This applies here as well. Do no damage, and it's less likely that they will find you.
Section 1.1 – Research & Preparation
Social engineering begins simply with your target. You need to be organized to determine exactly what information you do need. First write down all questions that you need answers to and have an accurate organization of all you need to know, there is nothing more frustrating then to do a whole week of research and work only to end up having forgotten a question, there are ways to recover from this, but they can be sketchy, and unnecessary.
Once you have a clear view of your goals, the next step is to research your target. You need to determine what interests your target has, and what methods would prove most effective to derive your needed information. For example, if your target is a technical support representative, you could pose as a client/customer with technical difficulties, this is an easy role, however it may not give you much opportunity for information gathering, other then some technical data. Alternatively you could pose as an out of town co-worker (for large companies such as call centers), or as a supervisor or investor. These roles require far more research, yet can result in all or most of your information being answered in one go.
It is also be important not to go strait to the information that you need answered, there are few times when this may be appropriate, but in most cases it’s better to use jazzed up small talk, or other questions that may seem useless to you, but will make it seem more routine for your target, and in some occasions, you never know it may give you useful information you didn’t even know you needed.
The next thing you need to research is the roles you may need to portray. It is a good idea to research more then you feel you will need; you never know when it will come in handy. But focus on the task at hand. Have a wide base of information so you have ground to cover with small talk, know current events, keep in touch with the news, read newspapers for anything relevant to the position so you can be prepared with comments like “did you hear about the strike in…” if it is relative to the target’s job or your own, they are likely to know about it, and can end up telling you about it, or you them.
Section 1.2 - Making your first call
Once you have sufficiently researched your target, you may feel that you are ready to call your target and begin collecting information. It is a good idea to review your notes and make certain that you are prepared, but if you feel confident, go for it.
Placing your first call is not an easy task, for most people this will make you nervous, don’t worry, that’s natural, if your not nervous then you have either done this many times before, or you may be overconfident and arrogant. Be careful of overconfidence, if can destroy your call in seconds. Being nervous can destroy your call with the same ferocity, but nervousness is easier to deal with (your probably thinking “easy for you to say”), with nervousness you are alert and prepared, the difficult part is making sure you speak clearly and without stuttering. If you do make any mistakes, just correct them as if you were the person you are trying to portray, and act as you think they would. You can even pretend or envision yourself actually employed by the company you are claiming to be from, do always say something because you think it’s what your target expects, but more because it’s what someone in your position should say.
While you are making this call be sure to be taking or typing notes. Record even the details that you think are useless, the best idea if you want your hands to be free and to be less occupied to read your notes is to purchase a phone tap with an audio cassette recorder. This way you can record your call and take notes later, you can also filter out background noise, or even listen to what people in the background are saying. You can also copy their hold messages while you are on hold to simulate your own hold system if in the future you plan to pretend to be from the target’s company.
If you do tape the calls then make sure that you always have more tapes handy, and that you are using extra long tapes, stop in your local Radio Shack and pick up 120 minute tapes (441-8157). This way your conversation can go up to 1 hour. If your conversation goes on past this, keep an eye on the tape, if it’s about to finish, place your target on hold for a moment, or simply say “just a moment” and pretend to speak to a co- worker, or to answer someone else’s question, use it to simulate that you are in an actual work environment. Then all you need to do is flip over the tape, or if you have already done so, switch tapes.
If you find your conversations taking up more then one tape, or even if very often you are flipping tapes, this means your conversations are exceeding 1 hour, meaning you are either very good, or you are on hold for a long time. However it could mean that you are taking too long to get to your point. If an employee feels that you are too chatty, or that you are wasting their time, they may become agitated; this is a very bad thing. However, if they are the one who is chatty, this can make your task a whole lot easier. Also keep in mind that if you get the feeling that they are stalling you, you may want to invent a reason to leave suddenly, for they may be trying to trap/trace your call.
Section 1.3 – Reviewing your notes/tapes
The hard part is over, but the work is not yet done. Quite often what someone said can be equally as important as how they said it. Also when you review tapes you can also pick up on things you didn’t notice or didn’t get the first time. Quite often you should listen to the tape more then once. With tapes you also can listen to what you said in the third person, and learn how to better yourself next time.
You can make your notes this time while you listen to the tapes, it is better to keep all your records as notes, rather then keeping the tapes, if you have the calls on tape then you have legal records against you if something should go wrong. However your notes would be less accusing to you, as well as being more thought out and easier to destroy. You can keep your notes on paper in a filing cabinet or accordion file. An increasingly popular way (and my favorite) is to type your notes and keep them on a computer or disk. This way you can encrypt them if you wish, or you can more quickly and efficiently destroy them. (Keep in mind, deleted files are not really deleted, you need hacker-like software such as a scrambler to properly delete a file so no one can recover it).
When writing your notes be sure to date them, and organize them in detailed point form as well as descriptions. You may have to rewrite your notes a few times, but this is the best way to make sure you know what you needed to know. Plus this way you have record in case you ever need to return, saving you have to do this all again.
Section 1.4 - Closure
Once you have your information, what you do with it is up to you. But be careful not to give yourself away, you will need to fight the urge to brag about how you pulled the wool over their eyes, or how you fooled them, but if you don’t give anything away then you have the power to do it again unsuspected, as well it makes your information more useful. And always remember one last thing, a computer hacker who never get's cought isn't always free because he's a good hacker, quite often they are smart enough to follow one simple rule that makes them very difficult to find. Do no damage, and no one is willing to spend the money to catch you. For example, if you were a computer hacker, and you write some virus that crash's a workplace server and they lose money, they want to investigate and catch you quickly. However, if they merely detect a break in, and there is no damage done, nothing missing, nothing harmed, chances are they can't justify the time and cost involved in hunting you down. This applies here as well. Do no damage, and it's less likely that they will find you.
Friday, June 25, 2004
People
In the world of reality, we have one simple truth, and that is that truth is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone has their own unique perspective on truth, what the truth is, what happened, and what is going to be the result of it. That does not mean that everyone is nessicerally wrong, albeit many people lie for many different reasons, but quite often a different in people's versions of the truth, are a result in their different perspectives. A quote that I always fealt best depicts this is from a Sci-fi show called Babylon 5. "Reality is always a three edged sword, Your side, Their side, and the truth".
I have been browsing some of the other blogs on this service and have found quite a few interesting ones, for example one person claims to be Andy Kaufmann who has been in hiding faking his own death for 20 years. As you can well imagine there is no shortage of comments claiming that he is lieing, and several more congradulating him. Although I am not sure weather I beleive it myself, one thing kept nagging me in the back of my mind. Quite often people will try to disprove a story like that by saying something along the lines of "On line 3, paragraph 6 of such and such post, you claimed that so and so said such and such in 1973 when it actually happened ni 1974". In defence of this I would like to point out that if he is real, and this story is true, then we need to keep in mind that unlike someone posing as him, who has done research, probably has all the dates and quotes on a web page where they look it up, and know everything very accuratly, the real person wouldn't be researhing their own life before they post, they would use their own memory, and we all have gotten dates wrong from time to time. I myself have misquoted years or dates that things happened to me, and who's to say that Andy Kaufmann wouldn't do the same. I probably should be posting this as a comment on that blog, but I think it plays very much into this blog's topic, so I've included it here instead.
Although in the real world I don't meet very many people, however online I meet several intersing people from around the world. One person I would like to mention is starlitecosmos, I met her on hotornot.com and her profile listed her blog on here (starlitecosmos.blogspot.com) and I read a lot of the blogs she had posted, she was facing an issue where....well...if you want the story, it's best to go there and read it yourself, but regardless she was faced with an issue where a friend was doing something degrading and embarrasing, in public, and when she confronted her friend, her words - intended for private - were broadcasted to all her other friends as a form of retaliation. In a proper debate or argument, this is not only a breach of interest, it's childish. When you write someone a private e-mail, especially in hopes to help them realise a problem, you don't expect it broadcasted, it's not only rude, it's stupid, it proves to most people that YOU have a problem, and will most likely end up hurting you as much, if not more than the other person.
That's all for now, Keep on Bloggin.
I have been browsing some of the other blogs on this service and have found quite a few interesting ones, for example one person claims to be Andy Kaufmann who has been in hiding faking his own death for 20 years. As you can well imagine there is no shortage of comments claiming that he is lieing, and several more congradulating him. Although I am not sure weather I beleive it myself, one thing kept nagging me in the back of my mind. Quite often people will try to disprove a story like that by saying something along the lines of "On line 3, paragraph 6 of such and such post, you claimed that so and so said such and such in 1973 when it actually happened ni 1974". In defence of this I would like to point out that if he is real, and this story is true, then we need to keep in mind that unlike someone posing as him, who has done research, probably has all the dates and quotes on a web page where they look it up, and know everything very accuratly, the real person wouldn't be researhing their own life before they post, they would use their own memory, and we all have gotten dates wrong from time to time. I myself have misquoted years or dates that things happened to me, and who's to say that Andy Kaufmann wouldn't do the same. I probably should be posting this as a comment on that blog, but I think it plays very much into this blog's topic, so I've included it here instead.
Although in the real world I don't meet very many people, however online I meet several intersing people from around the world. One person I would like to mention is starlitecosmos, I met her on hotornot.com and her profile listed her blog on here (starlitecosmos.blogspot.com) and I read a lot of the blogs she had posted, she was facing an issue where....well...if you want the story, it's best to go there and read it yourself, but regardless she was faced with an issue where a friend was doing something degrading and embarrasing, in public, and when she confronted her friend, her words - intended for private - were broadcasted to all her other friends as a form of retaliation. In a proper debate or argument, this is not only a breach of interest, it's childish. When you write someone a private e-mail, especially in hopes to help them realise a problem, you don't expect it broadcasted, it's not only rude, it's stupid, it proves to most people that YOU have a problem, and will most likely end up hurting you as much, if not more than the other person.
That's all for now, Keep on Bloggin.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Multi-Dimensional Reality, As it applies to god.
Of all the things I've ever lost I miss my mind the most, and a Mind is a terrable thing to waste, but My mind is over matter, and the most important matter is that I stop this insane ranting and get on with it.
I chose to contemplate existance in this blog, it will contain my thoughts, rants, ideas, and insights into that which we call existance. For example, how you ever considered why we are here, at first it may seem a noble question, the search for purpose when one has lost all other. Or perhaps simply to find meaning for one's own exstance. When you really break it down from a scientific perspective, the question "Why are we here" becomes a lot less philisophical and a lot more serious. We are not here with some grand purpose, or with some master plan (religeon aside), we are here, simply to procreate and continue the survival of our species.
This all makes logical sence, but then if that is true, humanity simply exists as a process of materials and nothing more. That view would state that we can't help but exist, since the initial formation of the cosmos, there were formed the basic atomic structures, and matter became reality. Eventually certain formations found other formations, and begin a process, that formed, and developed, like a math equation, simply getting more complex as it expands to compensate for effects, or grows to take in new factors. Certain structures of atoms combine, and begin to function together, as an organic structure and we have the beginnings of life. Eventually this process evolved untill it became cellular organisms, and on to animals, and on to humanoids. Then the only real intelligent question left in this case is... What's next?
But this doesn't sit right with me, not simply because it leaves me feeling empty and without purpose, but moreso that the unending paradox of "Where did it all come from". If we take time back to the "Big Bang" and the formation of the cosmos, we see an amazing explosion of matter, which brings to mind the question of, Whhere did that explosion come from? What Caused it? What Fueled it? Assuming space goes on in every direction for eternety, are there any more of them? have they happened earlier, or not even yet? Is our universe the result of a previous universe that collapsed in upon itself, and then exploded? or perhaps a gigantic star, exploding. Whatever be the case it requires that something had been there before that, and something before that, and something before that. Because one constant of a universe without god, is that you cannot create something from nothing. Which brings me to the next point.
God Must Exist. Science's own principles prove it, as there must be an eternety of time in the direction of the past, and the matter had to come from somewhere, there must be a higher plane of existance, or perhaps a higher dimension, and understanding that, something that lives above us in such an existance, could literally manipulate our existance however it may see fit. God may very well be nothing more (or less) then a severely advanced form of life. Picture this, imagine a life form as simple as an Ant, now make that ant 2 dimensional (not by crushing it, but assume it can exist this way). Now you can see all it can, you can see all of it's lenth, and width, but you can see something it cannot, you can see above and below it, It doesn't even understand above and below, it can't comprehend them, it may not even know they exist. So what then? you are a God to this ant, not yet.
So you understand things it cannot begin to fathom. But god not only understnds what we do not, he also has limitless effect on our reality. Taking this ant into consiteration, and the entire 2 dimensional universe he exists in, now imagine that you were more then just three dimensional, let's say you were 5 Dimensional, what I mean by this, is simply that you exist at all points in time, and in the 3 dimensinoal universe, everywhere, all at the same time. Furthering that, you can there for see objects as huge as our universe, and as tiny as an atom. because you exist everywhere, all the time, and similarly, you can manipulate anything. Now we have two factors, you are omnipotent, can do anything in our universe, and the ant is in a smaller form of understanding, the 2 dimensional universe, and since you can effect the 3-dimensional universe, and our ant's 2-dimensional universe exists within ours, you can effect it just as well. The ant perceives you as a god, and you not only effect his world limitlessly, are more intelligent then him, but also exist in a universe beyond his.
This is how I beleive god to exist, I beleive god is a being, that is extremely beyond our understanding, as we are flattened within our understanding of space and time, he may have several properties beyond that which are second nature to him, but far beyond us. Even our very concept of life and death may not apply to him, simply because his existance is different, everything we understand becomes rewritten the way his universe works. Even simple physics, are completly different there. Thus the beleife that when we die we go to heaven, would require a look into the human soal, it's perhaps a portion of our being that exists in this upper reality, that we do not yet fulyl understand, we are born with it under god's design, and it grows with us untill we die, and when we die, it seperates from our bodies, and carries our consiousness to god's realm. This scientific theory is the only sound one I can come up with that still allows for all of the bible's contents to be true, while not disagreeing with any of einstein's theories.
Keeping in mind that this is simply all my opinion, and is based on my limited understandings. I, as is everyone else, am constantly learning, and will probably one day expand on this idea, or possably disprove it and scrap it. However, as for now, I stand that it's the best idea I have.
I chose to contemplate existance in this blog, it will contain my thoughts, rants, ideas, and insights into that which we call existance. For example, how you ever considered why we are here, at first it may seem a noble question, the search for purpose when one has lost all other. Or perhaps simply to find meaning for one's own exstance. When you really break it down from a scientific perspective, the question "Why are we here" becomes a lot less philisophical and a lot more serious. We are not here with some grand purpose, or with some master plan (religeon aside), we are here, simply to procreate and continue the survival of our species.
This all makes logical sence, but then if that is true, humanity simply exists as a process of materials and nothing more. That view would state that we can't help but exist, since the initial formation of the cosmos, there were formed the basic atomic structures, and matter became reality. Eventually certain formations found other formations, and begin a process, that formed, and developed, like a math equation, simply getting more complex as it expands to compensate for effects, or grows to take in new factors. Certain structures of atoms combine, and begin to function together, as an organic structure and we have the beginnings of life. Eventually this process evolved untill it became cellular organisms, and on to animals, and on to humanoids. Then the only real intelligent question left in this case is... What's next?
But this doesn't sit right with me, not simply because it leaves me feeling empty and without purpose, but moreso that the unending paradox of "Where did it all come from". If we take time back to the "Big Bang" and the formation of the cosmos, we see an amazing explosion of matter, which brings to mind the question of, Whhere did that explosion come from? What Caused it? What Fueled it? Assuming space goes on in every direction for eternety, are there any more of them? have they happened earlier, or not even yet? Is our universe the result of a previous universe that collapsed in upon itself, and then exploded? or perhaps a gigantic star, exploding. Whatever be the case it requires that something had been there before that, and something before that, and something before that. Because one constant of a universe without god, is that you cannot create something from nothing. Which brings me to the next point.
God Must Exist. Science's own principles prove it, as there must be an eternety of time in the direction of the past, and the matter had to come from somewhere, there must be a higher plane of existance, or perhaps a higher dimension, and understanding that, something that lives above us in such an existance, could literally manipulate our existance however it may see fit. God may very well be nothing more (or less) then a severely advanced form of life. Picture this, imagine a life form as simple as an Ant, now make that ant 2 dimensional (not by crushing it, but assume it can exist this way). Now you can see all it can, you can see all of it's lenth, and width, but you can see something it cannot, you can see above and below it, It doesn't even understand above and below, it can't comprehend them, it may not even know they exist. So what then? you are a God to this ant, not yet.
So you understand things it cannot begin to fathom. But god not only understnds what we do not, he also has limitless effect on our reality. Taking this ant into consiteration, and the entire 2 dimensional universe he exists in, now imagine that you were more then just three dimensional, let's say you were 5 Dimensional, what I mean by this, is simply that you exist at all points in time, and in the 3 dimensinoal universe, everywhere, all at the same time. Furthering that, you can there for see objects as huge as our universe, and as tiny as an atom. because you exist everywhere, all the time, and similarly, you can manipulate anything. Now we have two factors, you are omnipotent, can do anything in our universe, and the ant is in a smaller form of understanding, the 2 dimensional universe, and since you can effect the 3-dimensional universe, and our ant's 2-dimensional universe exists within ours, you can effect it just as well. The ant perceives you as a god, and you not only effect his world limitlessly, are more intelligent then him, but also exist in a universe beyond his.
This is how I beleive god to exist, I beleive god is a being, that is extremely beyond our understanding, as we are flattened within our understanding of space and time, he may have several properties beyond that which are second nature to him, but far beyond us. Even our very concept of life and death may not apply to him, simply because his existance is different, everything we understand becomes rewritten the way his universe works. Even simple physics, are completly different there. Thus the beleife that when we die we go to heaven, would require a look into the human soal, it's perhaps a portion of our being that exists in this upper reality, that we do not yet fulyl understand, we are born with it under god's design, and it grows with us untill we die, and when we die, it seperates from our bodies, and carries our consiousness to god's realm. This scientific theory is the only sound one I can come up with that still allows for all of the bible's contents to be true, while not disagreeing with any of einstein's theories.
Keeping in mind that this is simply all my opinion, and is based on my limited understandings. I, as is everyone else, am constantly learning, and will probably one day expand on this idea, or possably disprove it and scrap it. However, as for now, I stand that it's the best idea I have.
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