From Voyageurs National Park on FB: Called “Catamaran” by locals, Bert Upton is among the strangest of historical characters on area waters. He lived in a hut built over a dug-out at Squirrel Narrows. Found frozen to death in the 1930s by Kettle Falls pioneer Oliver Knox; Upton was perched lifeless in the snow just a half-mile from his home. Shunning civilization, Upton defined the word hermit. First spotted rowing his crude log raft on Namakan, no one knows how he got there. Upton’s accent implied an English heritage but any personal inquiries brought a stony silence. Some suspected him a man fleeing the law; others saw a bizarre outcast; everyone knew he was peculiar. Just five feet tall and wildly unkempt, Catamaran wore hacked-off pants and walked barefoot with a stick. Winter demanded shoes but no socks, a cast-off Mackinaw, and a trailing cap made from the leg of old underwear. He was oddly religious, and suspicious of being poisoned. Surviving on snared rabbits and fish, he ofte...
Stupid? Nah, it's actually pretty clever, and just plain awful. This is a lot more common than just with e-cig mods. I know people with usb thumbdrives that they can just plug into any computer, wait two minutes, and pull out and have all of your system passwords, ssh keys, and financial creds. Some even replace the usb components of mice and other commonplace peripherals with these little "machines."
ReplyDeleteIt can be done with anything at all that plugs into a USB port, thanks to Windows' classic and continually awful handling of USB security policy. Plug and Play is a great friend to hackers.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great idea, it's our future that's stupid.
ReplyDeleteLike I go back in time and tell my 15 year old self that people will plug their cigarettes into a computer. But there are no flying cars...and no one has been back to the moon.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the utter lack of jetpacks.
ReplyDelete