Sunday 18 November 2012

One

The Native American's believed in a 'circle of life' (which is where the inspiration for Avatar came from) where everything was alive: the trees, the rocks, the water. They all depended on each other to live and prosper. They are all living and therefore all family.

Our somatic (body) cells obviously have 46 chromosomes and we share about 55% of these with a banana. I mean - a banana! It seems as if the Native Americans weren't far off saying we are all related. Life does depend on each other photosynthesis turns carbon dioxide into oxygen where as respiration turns oxygen into carbon dioxide. We depend on each other to survive.

Did you know that in 2009 of the top one hundred of the largest economic entities 44% of them were businesses? If you look at the top 150 this proportion rises to 59%. Why is this important? It is simple, you merely have to think about what a business does - it makes a profit.


Is that what we want from our world? A world built on making money? That doesn't mean we should go back to living in huts and caves but it does mean we need to think for ourselves. When I was in year seven at school I was in a production of We Will Rock You, which by the way is amazing to watch, and it foretold a future of corporate brainwashing by a company called Globalsoft. It's when people becomes so obsessed with the future that they forget about the present that we need to worry because without the present we will never reach the future.

The Earth will always survive we, however, will not.

Until the next time,
Kris

Sunday 11 November 2012

Salute

A Soldiers Poem

If I die in war zone
Box me up and send me home.
Put my medals on my chest,
Tell my mum I did my best.

Tell my dad not to bow,
He won't get tension from me now.
Tell my brother to study perfectly,
Keys of my bike will be his permanently.




Tell my sister not to be upset,

Her brother will not raise after sunset.

And tell my love not to cry,

Cause I'm a soldier and I was born to die.


Lest we forget




220px-Lest_we_forget.jpg

I found that poem on one of my friends Facebook, I'm not sure if they wrote it or whether they found it but I thought I should share it regardless.



Now I am completely against war, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the sacrifices made not just by the men and women but by their families and friends who get left behind also. Also the animals: we don't think of them but they die for us too.



For many, today was a day of mourning and in the eyes of an eight year old, who may not even know why we do this, is a day of remembrance. You can see the people holding back tears from their eyes as they place a poppy on a piece of stone. Only a few will ever know their true story and yet a country will become almost silent to say thank you.




I've always found it remarkable: whilst you are thinking for two minutes in silence, so is everyone around you and the majority of the country. Sharing the same thoughts.



Nobody is born to die. This day isn't about one war or even two - it isn't even about a war as far as I'm concerned. It's about sacrifice for someone else, to put yourself in the line of fire to save a person you don't even know.



So for that, I am eternally grateful.



Until the next time,


Kris



POPPIES_TRIPTYCH.jpg

Sunday 4 November 2012

Auditions

Hi everyone,

I have been quite busy this half term with homework, the bane of every teens life. So I haven't had time to post anything but after my exam tomorrow I will start working on some new stuff, however, I am organising for my Duke of Edinburgh project a group film project.

This project will consist of three trailers with the best idea being turned into a short film. As a consequence I need help! So if you are an aspiring writer, actor, musician, cameraman (or woman), or even a director and want to get involved I would love to hear from you.

My email address is kristurner1997 (at) gmail (dot) com or you can email me by clicking here which will open your preferred mailing software.

Until the next time,
Kris

Sunday 21 October 2012

How To: Physical Security

Hi, this week I'm going to be telling you how to secure your computer from those unwanted guests. This is a series of tutorials but the first issue we will be addressing is protection against someone who has physical access to your computer. These methods protect your computer not your files so if someone removed your hard drive they could open your files. In next week's tutorial we will prevent this.

Disclaimer
I am not responsible for any damage you cause whilst following this tutorial. Nor am I responsible for any actions you may take before, during or after reading this. In other words don't blame me, this tutorial is for educational purposes only.


Most of us only want to keep family out of your computer and often a strong password will keep the primitives at bay. But how do you know if your password is strong? It should:
  • Have a Mixture of lower case and upper case letters.
  • Contain one or more numbers in them
  • Not consist of a word from any dictionary
  • If possible contain punctuation.
  • Not be easily guessed such as a pets name.

An example of a strong password is, for the chemistry geeks: P3riod1C.Table and just for the record this isn’t my password I only came up with it because I have a periodic table on my wall and using the online password checker howsecureismypassword.net you can see that it would take an average computer 4 billion years to crack your password and what sibling can ever be bothered to wait that long?

So that will keep out some of your family, but what about those whom are more technically able? A simple password isn’t going to keep them out. Why? Think about it: when you send your PC off for repair how do the technicians gain access to your computer?

You see what Microsoft fails to tell their customers is that they decided they want a backdoor in their system. This back door just happens to be in the form of a secret, hidden Administrator account. What’s worse is the security on this account; non-existent. That’s right folks, right now on your Windows computer there is a massive gaping hole in your perfect password.

Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it: on your computer goto Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt or type cmd.exe in your start menu. This will open a black window which makes you look very hackeresque. Type in ‘net user’ into this window, without the quotes of course, and this will list all the accounts on your computer and as you can see Administrator is there.

I have blanked out the computer name for security reasons

However we can quickly fix this. You have two choices you can deactivate the account which I prefer because I can always access the data should I ever need to or you can delete it however this is permanent. You will, however, need your own administrator privileges (normally the person who had access to the laptop first or install software) to make these security changes.

Re-open command prompt but this time right click on the icon and click Run As Administrator. Read the message box and click allow (or the equivalent)

To Deactivate (Recommended)
In Command Prompt type in ‘net user Administrator’ this lists all the details of the account including the last logon which can be useful. Now we are going to disable the account type:
 net user Administrator /active:no
You will receive a command saying that the command completed successfully. If you wish to reactivate the account just substitute no for yes.

To Delete
This is simple, yet I don’t think it is anymore secure but should you wish to purge this account simply type
 net user Administrator /delete
You will receive a command saying that the command completed successfully. This account will no longer be listed if you type in net user.

But for those who, like myself, are truly paranoid there is one more layer of security: a BIOS password. The Basic Input Output System is a layer of computer software which we will not go into detail over however it is separate to the OS and therefore it is harder to hack (however not that hard if you know how). Again this password protects your computer not the files stored on the hard drive.

Now this is the difficult part because it varies between different computers and you have to hit the button at the right time. When you turn on your computer you will be presented with your computer manufacturer logo. At this point read the instructions at the bottom of the screen. The option you want will say something like press [F2] to enter BIOS.

Now it doesn’t take a computer science degree to realise that you need to press F2. This will bring you to another ‘hackeresque’ screen, normally blue, you should note that your mouse will not work here. Navigate using the arrow keys to the Security tab. Now navigate to the ‘Set Supervisor Password’ and press enter. Now enter your password which is normally a maximum of 8 characters remembering our guidelines from earlier on.  One last thing is to ensure that Password Check is set to Always this will mean you have to enter your BIOS password every time you logon.

This approach is not practical, however, should you need to share the computer. Make sure you Save and Exit.

If you get stuck or run into any problems just leave a comment below and I'll get back to you.

And that's it, your computer is protected against your family.

Until next time,
Kris

PS: I have created some cool graphics for A New Perspectives. You can get our desktop background below by clicking on it. Don't just right click and save because you won't have the right resolution.


Sunday 7 October 2012

Being True


“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” 

― Oscar Wilde

I have never really wrote around a quote before so this is a first for me. I was in the middle of writing a post that just didn't suit me. I don't know why but it didn't probably because I had never experienced the feelings myself.


So if you don't know who Oscar Wilde is then he is some eccentric poet from 1800's who, in all honestly, was a bit full of himself.  He was, nevertheless, inspirational. I'm not quite sure if that's the right word, but what I am trying to say is that I agree with most of his ideas.

Whilst being sentenced to hard labour on the charges of sodomy (performing homosexual acts is the politest way I can put it because I will not be using certain words on my site because I might just die of embarrassment - and that must have been the longest bracket's ever wrote) he managed to remain witty and true to himself through the entirety of the court case.
When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind. 
-De Profundis
Allen GinsbergAnd then there was the the transcendentalism of Ralph Emerson. He believed in the inherent goodness of a person and was often perceived to be the champion of individualism which, sadly, appear to have been forgotten in the modern day. When asked to sum up his beliefs his single doctrine (core belief) was the "infinitude of man"

Or then there was madness personified in Allen Ginsberg, a person who certainly didn't mind what people thought of him and who certainly didn't hold back in what he said to them.


Sure, most of you will think I'm on drugs again and talking some load of utter twaddle but if I was to define my doctrine it would be that I'd rather be hated for being the annoying bundle of loudness and energy which I am then pretend to be something I'm not.


And for that I am extremely sorry to those poor souls that I call friends.

'Till next time,

Kris 

Sunday 30 September 2012

Helpless


NOTE: This post may contain some images which readers may find some pictures of animals of animal testing that may be emotive yet need to be seen. Don't worry this isn't a post about trying to make you vegetarian this is just one of the reasons I am.

So I was in the shower yesterday and there was a fly on the wall. Yeah it's completely irrelevant, until, it slipped into the water and was trying to get out. Now anyone who has even seen anything like that knows that the reason they can't fly away is because his wings were now wet and too heavy.

So I saved him, I picked him up and I know it sounds crazy but he looked so helpless not being able to fly away especially since we had been the cause. When his wings dried out I released him outside and he just flew away. I don't think I could ever deliberately kill something that looked so scared.

You probably know that I'm a bit weird when it comes to saving animals, I shoved someone out of the way when they were trying to kill a bee and opened a window for him to leave because that's all he wanted to do. 

I think that's why we get sadistic adults because they were never taught hurting animals was wrong. Some people setting spiders on fire is fun or playing how many ants can you squash but it's not it's just cruel. Do you know why Beagle dogs are chosen for animal testing? It's because they aren't naturally aggressive. Does anyone else see a flaw with that? I mean they put these animals into tests were they might die because they are innocent? Like I said people are screwed up. 

That's why I'm vegetarian and that's why I avoid products that haven been tested on animals.


So anyway that is my convoluted rant on why the human race is screwed up, not because they eat meat, but because of the sadism of youth.

Until next time,
Kris

Sunday 9 September 2012

Dots

From close up the painting just looks like a random collection of dots - like the blurred lights of a city. But take a step back and suddenly everything makes sense, all those random dots form a perfect picture. I never understand drawing with dots but now? Now I think I do - either that or I am being far too philosophical but hey isn't that what life is about? Finding meaning when there is none.


Do you remember those dot by dot books we had when we were younger? The ones you had to link up following the numbers and you could never guess what it was until you were near the end - maybe that's what life is; a dot by dot but without the numbers.

How are we supposed to see the point we are too close to the page. Sometimes, we just need to take a step back and appreciate the beauty. And one day when we are old and grey and we've linked all the dots then maybe... just maybe we will have answered the question that we, the human race, ask all the way through our lives: what's the point?


It's just a short post today but I had a revelation. I thought it only right to share it with you; you know it will have been a year on Thursday since I wrote that first post Butterflies. It feels like a life time though it was just a year and yet I've changed I can remember writing it: where I was sitting, what I was feeling and I don't regret a second of our time together.

Yours looking back,
Kris
PS: Don't you dare stop reading. I love you all!