V-DAY

Today being Valentines Day, planned to dedicate

a few lines to the love-struck romantics of this world. 

But a skeptic like me could only churn out a parody :D

Love is in the air

Everyone is with their pair;

The young and the old

feel love moves the world,

Rack my brain I did,

for verses to fill the grid;

Thoughts have fled my mind

leaving me in a bind.

Pages threaten to be wordless

like our lives which are loveless.

Love verses broke mid-way,

like dreams of our lives blown away

Set out to write love ditty

but lost the plot, what a pity!

Tried to keep up with the rhyme

and ended up with a whine!

CONTROL FREAKS

There are people and there are people.  The first category people are the normal, sane, homo sapiens who exist on our Mother Earth.  The second one, ah, this category is probably created to make Hell on earth for the first category folks. Yes-THE CONTROL FREAKS.

They want absolute order.  They go about their tasks with a magnifying glass probably, or better still a microscope may be.   Even a speck of dust in the farthest nook and cranny shows up in their extra-sensitive radar.  The one-woman/man army swings into action to annihilate the offending intruder.

They have the power to detect the minutest motion of objects-especially if they happen to be articles on tables, shelves, cabinets etc.  The tirade against the unfortunate movers and shakers is best left unsaid.

This demon called OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER or OCD is an uninvited visitor who pitches his tent and refuses to leave, in the process making life miserable for the co-habitants.

Medical research says that the levels of the neurotransmitter Serotonin in the brain are low in people who have OCD.  Interestingly, scientific studies have also established that love also causes Serotonin levels in the brain to drop, which may lead people to obsess about their lover.

So aren’t we drawing parallels here-being smitten by a lover and being afflicted by the OCD?  That makes it sound better - love-struck and OCD-struck! Now, why would I go to such lengths to make OCD look harmless and appealing?  Truth be said, well, I belong to the second category as well!!

FACEBOOK STATUS AND THE IMPERFECT ALIBI

Rodney Bradford is a lucky guy. Charged with committing a robbery in Brooklyn last November, Bradford was freed when his lawyer proved that Bradford's Facebook status updated a minute before the robbery began. The computer that sent the update was in Harlem. Since Bradford didn't display the ability to be in two places at the same time, prosecutors dropped the charges.

But here's the kicker: There are several ways Bradford could have updated his Facebook status and have it appear that he was at home the whole time. Before I go on, I should add that based upon what I know of the case, I think he was innocent. But I also think his case sets a dangerous precedent -- a clever person could now orchestrate a crime and create a virtual alibi.

While I don't believe Bradford was involved in the robbery, I also know the evidence that led to the prosecutors dropping the charges wasn't adequate (assuming media reports from papers like the New York Post are telling the whole story). If the Facebook status update was the clincher, that's bad news.

Here are a few ways someone could update his or her Facebook status while simultaneously committing a crime across town:

1. Have someone else log in and write the update. This is the least technical method. Enlist the help of an accomplice to write your update for you. Split the loot when you get back.
2. Use a service like LogMeIn or GoToMyPC to access your own computer remotely. You can control your machine as if you were there in person and schedule a Facebook update. It will look like it came from your home computer -- because it did.
3. Build a virtual networking computing (VNC) server. This isn't as hard as it sounds -- computers running Mac OS X 10.4 or better or Windows Vista Ultimate or better already have the capability to act as a VNC server. You can even use an app like Mocha VNC to connect to your computer through an iPhone. Control your machine as if you were at the keyboard.

In short, a virtual alibi isn't really worth that much. In Bradford's case, attorneys subpoenaed Facebook to make sure the status update came from his home. Facebook confirmed this was the case. But as I point out, that doesn't necessarily mean Bradford was actually home. Right now, the law is lagging behind technology. Many lawyers don't really know what is and isn't possible using computers. As a result, attorneys drop charges for the wrong reasons.

Perhaps the lawyers did know all the possibilities. Perhaps they dropped the charges because the evidence coupled with everything else they knew about Bradford was enough to convince them he wasn't the right guy. It could be another case of the media not reporting the whole story. But if lawyers think that there's no way to create a fake virtual alibi, we may be in for some serious crimes committed by Web-savvy bad guys.

Source: news.discovery.com/