The Rise of the Botnets

Anyone else have problems with Facebook and Twitter this morning? Twitter was completely down for a while, and Facebook was sporadic. I could pull up my messages but then couldn't get into them, for example. Both seem to have recovered now, and I was wondering if there were solar flares or something interrupting communication. Or maybe hostile aliens. Nope. According to an article on CNET, the source is human, just irritating and disruptive:

DDOS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks typically come from a collection of compromised computers called a botnet, said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Internet security firm Sophos. The botnet computers can inundate a Web site's servers with communication requests, legitimate or malformed to cause extra trouble.

Thanks, hackers, for once again proving to all of us that you have no life. I honestly don't get that mentality. Trying to compensate for their own inadequacies, I suppose. Twitter seems to be okay now, and Facebook mostly okay--still a little sluggish, but much better than it was earlier.

I haven't written about any of my odd dreams lately, but I had a good one last night. Not so much for the interesting content or any hidden meanings, but for a great one-liner that I really want to remember.

I was at some function in a church--I don't know if it was a wedding, or what. I was wearing an evening gown, but it was really an ugly one, with ruffles on the bodice, long sleeves, and an ugly rust color. Bleah! Totally not me! I escaped from the function and went out to the outdoor basketball court and was shooting baskets. There was another woman there who was about my age, but she was apparently in charge of the playground. (She reminded me vaguely of someone from high school, but I can't think of who.) She left to go do something else, and while she was gone, I noticed that there was a chunk of foam matting that was obscuring access to the basket, so I said to myself, "That's gotta go." I pulled it down, and as I was propping it up against the wire fence around the court, that piece of fencing fell down, taking the next section down with it. As I was trying to get the sections of fence back in place, I accidentally started a lawn mower that was sitting in a puddle of muddy water (I have weird dreams, remember?), and it hurled muddy water all over my dress. (Apparently, in my dreams, I'm a veritable Lucy Ricardo.) As I was struggling with all this stuff, Tony Randall happened to wander by, and I said, "Hey--wanna help me here?" He said, "I can't help you with this, I'm just an architect," and I said, "Then you're good at building things. Now help me get this fence up!"

We got the fence back in place, and that's when the woman in charge came back. When she saw what had happened, she gave me a dirty look, but didn't say anything. I went over to her and said, "Hey. Have you got a problem?" She said, "It looks as though you've been very busy," in a sarcastic tone. I said, "It was a series of unfortunate events." She made no comment, just gave me another dirty look, so I said, "Hey lady? Why don't you just sit there atop your high horse, take a look around, and enjoy it...then get off it!"

I have no idea what prompted this dream, although I would guess that it shows a bit of a problem with authority figures, which comes as no surprise to me. I should rephrase that. I have no problem with authority figures who treat others with respect, and don't abuse their authority. I have a big problem with those who are bullying jerks and throw their weight around just because they can. I'm sure we've all encountered both types.

I just love my last line in the dream about the high horse, though. I'm going to remember that one, and who knows? I might have a chance to use it one day. I'd be so happy, though, that after I delivered it in the appropriately scathing tone, I'd burst into laughter, do a happy dance, and say, "I got to use the line! I got to use the line!" That would probably detract from its effectiveness.

By the way, Barb sent me the picture today of the three of us at yesterday's rally. As you can see, none of us ever had any sort of problem with authority figures at Ball State. Nope, model citizens, all of us, never got into a speck o' trouble, never broke a rule. That was us! (teehee!)