USB devices with malware/hack

According to recent news reports, USB devices from keyboards, all the way to e-cigs(!) can contain malware, and start compromising computers that they're plugged into.

http://ift.tt/1rbDuFh



I must confess I don't understand how this can be done. An OS should only be running code that is authorized to run; I don't see what, after a USB device is plugged in, is going to make the computer start running any code on the USB device.



At worst, I would expect a box to come up asking about drivers... At best, just a box asking what you want to use to communicate with the device (like 'open in windows explorer').



(I certainly remember the horribleness of IE installing software on Windows computers years ago; at least that got patched. Linus users just looked on with bemused expressions, I would imagine...)

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/11UA7Gz

Is William Lane Craig asking God to kill a Supreme Court Justice?

Just saw this on facebook:

Quote:

Originally Posted by William Lane Craig I have personally decided to covenant with the Lord to pray every day about this decision until the Supreme Court renders it – to keep the Supreme Court in prayer that these justices will make the right decision, or that if God so wills he might remove one of these justices and replace him or her with a different justice who would make a right decision. This is entirely within God’s power to do.

I am pretty sure that the US constitution does not have reserved power for God.



Is he saying that he wants God to kill an existing justioce so that another might take his or her place?



Or am I reading it wrong?



How, I wonder, is he expecting God to remove one of them?

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/11SyPf8

Wikipedia editor account to upload image?

I've been reading Wikipedia's articles about the evolution of the Phoenician alphabet into various modern ones, and along the way I gradually arranged an image to keep the information organized & condensed in one place for myself. Once it was done, it occurred to me that it was a rather Wikipediac image and would be a good addition to a Wikipedia article (on either the general "alphabets" page, or the specific ones on the Phoenician, Greek, and/or Aramaic alphabets) where other people could see it too. The smaller images it contains are even downloaded straight from Wikipedia, so it's really just a rearrangement of what Wikipedia already has.



But I don't know of a way to get it uploaded and added to an article. It apparently requires an editor's account, but I don't have one and don't intend to become an editor there if this one task can just be done by somebody who already is one. Do we have any here who'd want to upload this? (Or suggest changes first before it gets uploaded?)

Attached Images

Alphabets.jpg (24.9 KB)

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1rmoaQA

NSA backdoor found in front facing iPhone camera

In what is being called “selfie-gate”, a hardware-based backdoor has been discovered by Reddit hackers.



But the real news is that the First Annual ISF Secret Santa is now open for sign up until this Friday, November 28.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1yPCANw

SJW vs MRA POC

LGBT.



But the real news is that the First Annual ISF Secret Santa is now open for sign up until this Friday, November 28.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1yPCyVV

West Lothian Independence

After years of being used as a rhetorical question in national politics, a small group of fed up citizens have announced an independence referendum.



But the real news is that the First Annual ISF Secret Santa is now open for sign up until this Friday, November 28.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/15juZOv

Hillary Clinton Won’t Run for President in 2016

Hillary Clinton announced today that she would not run for President in 2016. Instead, she will start the first Democratic Hunger Games...



But the real news is that the First Annual ISF Secret Santa is now open for sign up until this Friday, November 28.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/15juWT0