Getting My Car Rebooted

I have two intertwined stories about my car. They both, unfortunately, came to a head today.

A little background. I drive a 1999 Mercedes Benz SLK230 – a little 2-seat convertible. It’s a snazzy car – not as good for impressing women as a puppy on a leash, but impressive none the less.

The SLK sounds pricey, but after driving it for seven years it’s got the same cost basis as a Plymouth Scamp or AMC Pacer.

Friday, I came home from work, pulled the car in the garage and walked in the house. The only thing I didn’t do was turn off the headlights! By Saturday morning the battery was totally dead.

No problem. We have jumper cables. But the weather wasn’t too nice this weekend and I put it off.

As Helaine headed out to the market Monday, she realized my car was still in paperweight mode. I pushed it out of the garage, popped the hood and threw the cables across the battery terminals.

Within a few seconds the Benz was running, but running roughly. It was also throwing off enough white smoke to elect a pope.

I pushed my foot down on the accelerator to rev the engine and – nothing. The pedal went down to the floor but the engine’s speed remained where it was.

Uh oh.

I shifted into Drive and attempted to move. The car ran more smoothly, but it wouldn’t do much more than a few miles per hour, and again the accelerator pedal did nothing.

There was little to do but go to work, leaving Helaine stranded. On my way I called Steve, my friend and mechanic. It’s good to have a mechanic for a friend.

He said he’d drop by on his way home from work. When he did, he found exactly what I’d found and was equally adept at fixing it.

Last night I began to research the problem on the Internet. Having the car go stupid after a battery failure or replacement was commonplace and there was a solution.

With the engine running, turn the steering all the way left, then all the way right, then center it. It seemed too simple… because it was.

I tried it. Nothing.

I called the dealership. It wasn’t long before John came by in his Mercedes SUV holding a computer. He opened my hood, unscrewed what I thought was the opening to refill the oil, and plugged in a cable.

The computer and my car immediately struck up a conversation. I heard little valves and switches click into place. As John looked down, every sensor… every sensor… was marked with an “F” for failure!

It was then that John did something I never expected. He told the computer to reset everything in my car’s onboard computer. My car was being rebooted. Within 30 seconds, the SLK was back to its old self… except for one thing.

And so begins my second car story.

I didn’t notice it until John was gone but both my brake lights were out. There was still the 3rd brake light, a long string of red on the trunk lid, but the conventional tail lights for braking were gone.

This is something I’d been having trouble with for a while. My left brake light had become intermittent. I replaced the bulb and even went into the dealer for service. Five minutes later the problem was back.

I checked the NHTSA website and found a similar recall on cars just like mine. The site said to call Mercedes. I did, but they had no clue what I was talking about, so I called NHTSA.

Oh my God! Here’s my email that followed the call:

To whom it may concern,

My name is Geoffrey Fox, (address). I have just gotten off the phone with one of your representatives concerning my 1999 Mercedes Benz SLK230, vin: (redacted).

I have never, ever, been treated in such a surly manner by any telephone agent for any company or agency.

I called to ask about a recall, which your agency’s website says “is expected to begin in July 2006.” Mercedes Benz claims no knowledge of this recall (using the number you provided on your website). The NHTSA agent said she had no information. So, I asked to file a complaint on the vehicle.

Your agent did everything humanly possible to prevent me from filing this complaint. In fact, she originally refused. Only after I pressed did she grudgingly allow it, demanding the smallest of facts.

As an example, she asked how I knew my brake light wasn’t working! When I said another motorist had signaled me while driving, she said that wasn’t enough. She wasn’t asking for clarification. This was my punishment for wanting to file this report.

Somewhere along the line there is a disconnect between what your agency should be doing and what this particular agent is doing. I hope you’ll reconsider whether this person should have direct dealings with consumers.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey Fox

cc: Nicole Nason

Nicole Nason is the person who runs NHTSA. At the close of business today, my email hadn’t been acknowledged, much less answered.

There’s little I can do now other than replace the bad parts which are causing my brake light failure. That’s $300 plus labor for a housing which had gotten ‘bent out of shape’. It was designed for temperatures lower than that produced by a standard brake light!

If there’s a recall, I’ll get the money back. As I found today, there’s really no way to know.

Now you’re caught up with my two car stories.

Karmann Ghia – Blast From The Past

Photo from my Motorola RAZR cameraphone

31 Jul ’06, 7.26pm EDT

Originally uploaded by Geoff Fox.

Today, on my way to work, I had to stop at the oil company. If you’re not from the Northeast, this might surprise you. Many homes here are heated with oil, delivered by truck, year round.

Anyway, as I parked, it caught my eye. A blazing orange 1974 Karmann Ghia. I loved those little cars. Back in the late 60s and early 70s this was my dream ride.

Here’s the truth. The Karmann was just a Volkswagen with a nicely styled body. It still couldn’t accelerate out of its own way. It was tiny, tinny and cramped.

My assumption was, they came from the factory with rust pre-installed. That’s probably why, though loved, there aren’t many left.

Actually, this one looked pretty good. It had that slightly oxidized flat finish that cars from that era acquired with age (and without wax).

You know what? All that practical stuff means nothing. It was a sweet looking ride and helped define an era.

Can your Taurus say that?


Tough To Be A Global Warming Skeptic

I have mentioned this before. I am skeptical of many of the worst gloom and doom projections of those banging the drum for global warming.

Though I haven’t seen his movie, I have seen Al Gore speak on global warming. It was at the White House and he was one of the best scientific speakers I’ve ever heard. I still wasn’t convinced.

This weekend I thought about this a little. Why am I fighting the tide? After all, like you I’ve read all the pronouncements that science has made up its collective mind. Done deal. Fait accompli.

And, from a political point of view, if you’re a global warming skeptic, aren’t you on the side of oil companies and belching smoke stacks? Isn’t it better to side with the Prius people?

Like I said, I pondered this weekend. Then, this morning, I saw a link to an article in the Denver Press.

From Dr. Bill Gray at Colorado State University:

“They’ve been brainwashing us for 20 years,” Gray says. “Starting with the nuclear winter and now with the global warming. This scare will also run its course. In 15-20 years, we’ll look back and see what a hoax this was.”

Gray directs me to a 1975 Newsweek article that whipped up a different fear: a coming ice age.

“Climatologists,” reads the piece, “are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change. … The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.”

the article continued with more quotes and another Colorado expert, but this was the part that struck me the hardest. Again, Dr. Gray:

“Plenty of young people tell me they don’t believe it,” he says. “But they won’t touch this at all. If they’re smart, they’ll say: ‘I’m going to let this run its course.’ It’s a sort of mild McCarthyism. I just believe in telling the truth the best I can. I was brought up that way.”

I understand exactly what he’s getting at. That’s why I was pondering my position this weekend. I was hearing the crowd instead seeing the science.

I know what I believe, but no one wants to be looked at with scorn.

Global Warming

I watched Miles O’Brien’s CNN documentary on global warming this past weekend. Miles and I met at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena a few years ago. I’ve always enjoyed his space oriented science reporting. I was more than a little disappointed in this particular documentary&#185.

I knew where it was going as soon as I heard:

But now the scientific debate is largely over. There is overwhelming consensus that the threat is real, that humans are at least part of the cause, and that something must be done.

Maybe I missed the memo. I don’t think the debate is over, and I know I’m not alone in thinking that.

This all goes back to my view that the concept of global warming is being treated as both a scientific and political concept. I don’t mind hearing about the science, but most of the time it is a partisan political story, but portrayed as a scientific one.

Ask yourself, have you ever heard anything positive about global warming? In a true scientific discussion all the effects would be presented, not just the bad ones.

In any weather change scenario there will be winners and losers – but we only hear about the losers. You never hear about how much you’ll save in heating bills or how farmers in the Northern Plains and Siberia will get a longer growing season.

Is that a big deal? I’m not sure. But I’m sure growing season changes, or less need for heating oil in the industrialized world has to have more impact than what happens on Tuvalu – an island of a bit more than 10,000 people, that Miles spent lots of time on.

Among the operational, or forecasting, meteorologists I know, or whose opinions I read in online chat rooms, most are skeptical about the whole concept. Meteorologists involved in research or theoretical meteorology are more likely to be enamored with the concept.

Recently, one of the skeptics wrote on medialine.com:

Here are just a few things I deal with or have dealt with in forecasting: We still cannot find and correct the cool bias in summer and warm bias in winter of the Great Lakes within forecast models. I have computer models showing me highs today and this weekend in the mid to upper 40’s with a wind off 33 degree lake water. We know the lake temp. It is factored into the models, even our local meso models, and still it cannot forecast an accurate temp. The Great Lakes, I believe, have been here as long as modern Meteorology.

He’s right. Temperatures are very tough to forecast, even when we have a total understanding of the initializing conditions. We’re not aways right, even when we don’t need to make assumptions, as we do for most global warming scenarios.

The whole concept of global warming throws many variables into the mix. It’s not just the greenhouse gases, but also the offshoots of any warming, like cloudiness or increased water vapor in the atmosphere. Many of the individual variables are working against each other. Many are not properly or totally accounted for.

I’ve told this story here before. While sitting on an airplane, waiting to take off from the Tampa Airport, I looked at the sky. It was overcast.

When I looked closer, I realized the clouds were airplane contrails that had become diffuse with the weak upper air winds over Florida. These ‘clouds’ were unpredicted. They certainly changed the heat budget below them.

How did the computer models we use for forecasting handle them? I asked a friend, someone familiar with numeric weather prediction. His simple answer was, they’re not taken into account at all.

I am not doubting that greenhouse gases can make a difference, or that the greenhouse concept is, by itself wrong. Get into a parked car on a warm sunny day. That’s greenhouse warming at its finest!

All I’m saying is, there are lots of people speaking with total clarity about a subject on which, in my opinion, the jury is still out. And, they’re doing it using forecasting techniques that only see part of the picture.

&#185 – CNN provides online transcripts for many of their shows, including this documentary.

Adventures in Spam

I swear by Popfile to rid my inbox of spam – but it’s failing me now as spammers are getting more crafty. Within the past few weeks, messages that look very ‘spammy’ to the naked eye have been buzzing through Popfile. It was easy to figure out how.

Popfile compiles a ‘corpus’, a list of words that normally do or don’t appear in my emails. Spammy words are likely to get an otherwise nice mail kicked out.

These new emails take a paragraph or two of text (it looks like AP wire copy or something similar) and inserts it in the message. The text is so long, it overwhelms the spam content.

The really sneaky part is how this long text is displayed. Unlike the ad copy, these innocuous words are displayed in the smallest possible size. It is so small that the letters aren’t even formed. It’s just a blur of small smudges. I had to copy it into a text editor to see what was really going on.

It’s my guess that Popfile will be strengthened to fight this new scourge. And the spammers will come up with something else. It seems to be a never ending saga.

Here’s the part that I totally don’t understand. Hasn’t everyone who wants Cialis or Viagra, and is willing to blindly buy on the net, already gotten it? I’ve gotten thousands upon thousands of solicitations for this kind of drug. I understand why someone wouldn’t want to go to their doctor or pharmacist to explore this problem, but the numbers can’t be this great.

Then there’s the question who is going to ingest a substance that comes from a website which has to spell Viagra, V1@GR@ and falsifies its return address?

The products sold using spam have changed greatly over time. Bootleg software and prescription drugs seem to be the hot items at the moment. Many things I might have seen advertised a year or two ago are gone.

The quantity has also changed. Since January 6, 2004, 61% of my email has been spam (and that doesn’t count the untold thousands of messages I filter out before they get to my mailbox)

It all boggles the mind.

Blogger’s addendum – This morning, another similar spam came in. Here’s what it looks like:

A new head start for elite women, a new course and an Olympic year couldn’t stop Meb Keflezighi from making it the same old story at the Gate River Run.Keflezighi, of Mammoth, Calif., became the first man to win four consecutive River Run titles, catching Colleen De Reuck on the Hart Bridge and outrunning Abdi Abdirahman to the finish to win by 2 seconds on Saturday.”It was a fast pace from the early going and Abdi gave me a run for the money,” said Keflezighi, 28, who finished in 43 minutes, 10 seconds, to win $15,000, including a $5,000 bonus for being the top finisher.De Reuck, of Boulder, Colo., led most of the race after being one of 25 elite women to get a head start of 5 minutes, 16 seconds, longer than the 5-minute planned advantage because of technical problems. The head start was instituted for the first time to add drama to the race. De Reuck, 39, said she knew her split times were not fast enough to hold off the men.”At least for the first 7 miles, I was just trying to secure the [women’s] lead,” said De Reuck, who finished first among the women in 49:02 and took home $10,000. “When I heard [from spectators] they [the top men] were there, I knew they were going to fly down the bridge.”But the men’s leaders really made up most of the time on the bridge incline, cutting a 40-second deficit in half.Race officials said the finish was one of the closest in the 27 years of the River Run, but did not have records available to confirm where it ranked.A clock problem caused the extra advantage for the elite women, but USA Track and Field men’s championship liaison Mark Zenobia said the problem would have been more damaging if De Reuck had finished first overall and by less than 16 seconds.Race officials said they had to be certain the start was done properly because the race is the U.S. 15K championship. The event had 7,601 finishers, a River Run record.Abdirahman, who finished second last year by 28 seconds, said he ran a strong race but was not happy with second.”I thought I might outkick him, but … he had a little more surge at the end,” said Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz. “I wish I had another 50 meters.”Catching the women was not important. I knew I would catch them, but I didn’t get the bonus, so it didn’t matter.”But Keflezighi, a late commitment to the race because he was recovering after qualifying for the Olympics in the marathon last month, said he didn’t think he would have caught De Reuck without the 25-year-old Abdirahman pushing the pace.Keflezighi beat the record of Todd Williams, who won three consecutive titles from 1994-96.Race director Doug Alred said the extra 16 seconds made the race more exciting and he might adjust the equalizer bonus based on the field next year.De Reuck pulled away from Sylvia Mosqueda by 25 seconds in the fourth mile and won by 1:06 over the fellow marathon trials qualifier.”I felt OK for the first mile and a half,” said Mosqueda, a Los Angeles resident. “But right around 3 miles, my legs were like lead. I didn’t feel like I was racing; I felt like I was running.”Tatyana Pozdnyakova, a Gainesville resident who won the Los Angeles Marathon on March 7, finished third among women (50:15) and first among Masters women — ages 40 and older. Pozdnyakova, 49, won the $50,000 challenge bonus in Los Angeles where women received a 20:30 head start in the 26.2-mile race. Dennis Simonaitis, 41, of Draper, Utah, was the top men’s finisher in the Masters division. He finished in 48:31.Kim Pawelek, who finished 10th among women (52:54) and is also going to the marathon trials April 3 in St. Louis, was the top women’s finisher from Jacksonville. Zepherinus Joseph was the top Jacksonville runner (23rd, 48:34) and is awaiting word on whether he will be representing St. Lucia in the Olympic Games at Athens.One of the worst runs of his career probably helped Dale Earnhardt Jr. save his season.A week after he nearly was parked for running too slow, Junior zoomed by Jeremy Mayfield with 15 laps to go and sprinted to an easy victory Sunday in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

He also won the season-opening Daytona 500.”Last week was as bad as it ever gets,” Earnhardt said. “But we didn’t get on each other too bad, and we stayed pretty focused.”Rookie Kasey Kahne was third — his third straight finish in the top three — and Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman followed him across the finish line.Defending series champ Matt Kenseth, who had won the past two races, rallied from a lap down to finish sixth.At Las Vegas last Sunday, Earnhardt started 26th and quickly drifted to the rear of the field at the start. His Chevrolet was so far off the pace that NASCAR warned his crew he was right at the minimum speed.After eventually finishing 35th, Earnhardt and the team spent Thursday testing at Kentucky Speedway. Just as their session was ending, they hit on a setup that worked, and Earnhardt was fast all weekend at Atlanta.”We went testing, and we’re going testing this week,” Earnhardt said. “We’re going to test, test, test, until we lap the field.”I’m determined and devoted to running like this every week, no matter what it costs.”He qualified seventh and stayed near the front, then dominated the latter stages. He passed Mayfield’s Dodge for the lead with 60 laps to go and held the top spot until the leaders made their final pit stops under green.Mayfield came in with 26 to go and his crew changed four tires in 14.3 seconds, then Earnhardt followed three laps later. His stop was nearly a second faster, but he came back on the track in third, behind Mayfield and Johnson.With 20 laps left, Earnhardt drove by Johnson on the inside and set his sights on Mayfield. He didn’t take long.Junior ran up high in Turns 1 and 2 to get momentum, then swooped underneath Mayfield down the backstretch, moving into the lead with hardly a struggle.”We had a great car to start with, but it just seemed as the race went on, the tighter we got,” Mayfield said of his car’s handling. “Dale Jr. and those guys got ahead of the track and we didn’t.”Kenseth started 30th and was up to 13th after 15 laps, and eventually got to sixth before the first pit stops. But he made a rare mistake, spinning his Ford as he came into the pits, and dropped a lap down after a drive-through penalty.He made up the ground during the second caution for oil on the track, because he was the first lapped car behind the leader, and got his fourth straight top-10 finish to start the season.Kenseth leads Tony Stewart by 82 points, with Earnhardt another eight points back.

And, here’s what those little lines say:

A new head start for elite women, a new course and an Olympic year couldn’t stop Meb Keflezighi from making it the same old story at the Gate River Run.Keflezighi, of Mammoth, Calif., became the first man to win four consecutive River Run titles, catching Colleen De Reuck on the Hart Bridge and outrunning Abdi Abdirahman to the finish to win by 2 seconds on Saturday.”It was a fast pace from the early going and Abdi gave me a run for the money,” said Keflezighi, 28, who finished in 43 minutes, 10 seconds, to win $15,000, including a $5,000 bonus for being the top finisher.De Reuck, of Boulder, Colo., led most of the race after being one of 25 elite women to get a head start of 5 minutes, 16 seconds, longer than the 5-minute planned advantage because of technical problems. The head start was instituted for the first time to add drama to the race. De Reuck, 39, said she knew her split times were not fast enough to hold off the men.”At least for the first 7 miles, I was just trying to secure the [women’s] lead,” said De Reuck, who finished first among the women in 49:02 and took home $10,000. “When I heard [from spectators] they [the top men] were there, I knew they were going to fly down the bridge.”But the men’s leaders really made up most of the time on the bridge incline, cutting a 40-second deficit in half.Race officials said the finish was one of the closest in the 27 years of the River Run, but did not have records available to confirm where it ranked.A clock problem caused the extra advantage for the elite women, but USA Track and Field men’s championship liaison Mark Zenobia said the problem would have been more damaging if De Reuck had finished first overall and by less than 16 seconds.Race officials said they had to be certain the start was done properly because the race is the U.S. 15K championship. The event had 7,601 finishers, a River Run record.Abdirahman, who finished second last year by 28 seconds, said he ran a strong race but was not happy with second.”I thought I might outkick him, but … he had a little more surge at the end,” said Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz. “I wish I had another 50 meters.”Catching the women was not important. I knew I would catch them, but I didn’t get the bonus, so it didn’t matter.”But Keflezighi, a late commitment to the race because he was recovering after qualifying for the Olympics in the marathon last month, said he didn’t think he would have caught De Reuck without the 25-year-old Abdirahman pushing the pace.Keflezighi beat the record of Todd Williams, who won three consecutive titles from 1994-96.Race director Doug Alred said the extra 16 seconds made the race more exciting and he might adjust the equalizer bonus based on the field next year.De Reuck pulled away from Sylvia Mosqueda by 25 seconds in the fourth mile and won by 1:06 over the fellow marathon trials qualifier.”I felt OK for the first mile and a half,” said Mosqueda, a Los Angeles resident. “But right around 3 miles, my legs were like lead. I didn’t feel like I was racing; I felt like I was running.”Tatyana Pozdnyakova, a Gainesville resident who won the Los Angeles Marathon on March 7, finished third among women (50:15) and first among Masters women — ages 40 and older. Pozdnyakova, 49, won the $50,000 challenge bonus in Los Angeles where women received a 20:30 head start in the 26.2-mile race. Dennis Simonaitis, 41, of Draper, Utah, was the top men’s finisher in the Masters division. He finished in 48:31.Kim Pawelek, who finished 10th among women (52:54) and is also going to the marathon trials April 3 in St. Louis, was the top women’s finisher from Jacksonville. Zepherinus Joseph was the top Jacksonville runner (23rd, 48:34) and is awaiting word on whether he will be representing St. Lucia in the Olympic Games at Athens.One of the worst runs of his career probably helped Dale Earnhardt Jr. save his season.A week after he nearly was parked for running too slow, Junior zoomed by Jeremy Mayfield with 15 laps to go and sprinted to an easy victory Sunday in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

He also won the season-opening Daytona 500.”Last week was as bad as it ever gets,” Earnhardt said. “But we didn’t get on each other too bad, and we stayed pretty focused.”Rookie Kasey Kahne was third — his third straight finish in the top three — and Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman followed him across the finish line.Defending series champ Matt Kenseth, who had won the past two races, rallied from a lap down to finish sixth.At Las Vegas last Sunday, Earnhardt started 26th and quickly drifted to the rear of the field at the start. His Chevrolet was so far off the pace that NASCAR warned his crew he was right at the minimum speed.After eventually finishing 35th, Earnhardt and the team spent Thursday testing at Kentucky Speedway. Just as their session was ending, they hit on a setup that worked, and Earnhardt was fast all weekend at Atlanta.”We went testing, and we’re going testing this week,” Earnhardt said. “We’re going to test, test, test, until we lap the field.”I’m determined and devoted to running like this every week, no matter what it costs.”He qualified seventh and stayed near the front, then dominated the latter stages. He passed Mayfield’s Dodge for the lead with 60 laps to go and held the top spot until the leaders made their final pit stops under green.Mayfield came in with 26 to go and his crew changed four tires in 14.3 seconds, then Earnhardt followed three laps later. His stop was nearly a second faster, but he came back on the track in third, behind Mayfield and Johnson.With 20 laps left, Earnhardt drove by Johnson on the inside and set his sights on Mayfield. He didn’t take long.Junior ran up high in Turns 1 and 2 to get momentum, then swooped underneath Mayfield down the backstretch, moving into the lead with hardly a struggle.”We had a great car to start with, but it just seemed as the race went on, the tighter we got,” Mayfield said of his car’s handling. “Dale Jr. and those guys got ahead of the track and we didn’t.”Kenseth started 30th and was up to 13th after 15 laps, and eventually got to sixth before the first pit stops. But he made a rare mistake, spinning his Ford as he came into the pits, and dropped a lap down after a drive-through penalty.He made up the ground during the second caution for oil on the track, because he was the first lapped car behind the leader, and got his fourth straight top-10 finish to start the season.Kenseth leads Tony Stewart by 82 points, with Earnhardt another eight points back.

Blinking Lights

Right before I go to bed, after I turn the lights off in my office, I look back into the darkened room – only to see what looks like a miniature airport. Everywhere you look there are tiny lights. Some are steady. Some blink. Some used to be steady but now blink or quiver with age.

Why are they all there? Why does every new piece of electronic equipment seem to need a light?

Most are dumb. They’re saying, “Hey, I’m plugged in” and nothing more. Some, like the light connected to the charging circuit on my camcorder, blink according to how close to fully charged the battery is.

My cable modem has five lights. One, the test light, is never on. I don’t know how to test the test light. It might be burned out. How would I know? Three others, Power, Cable and PC, remain lit ’round the clock. The data light blinks incessantly as computers from around the world attempt to connect to my computers.

That’s not a good thing.

The blinking data light is chronicling the computer equivalent of walking down the block, stopping at every door and jiggling the doorknob to see if it’s unlocked.

The router between my cable modem and computer acts as a defacto firewall, keeping the miscreants out, so this blinking doesn’t mean someone’s hurting me. Still, I know what some of them are trying to accomplish by looking in the log the router keeps.

It used to take a few days to fill the log. Now, it’s full in a few hours. Here’s a sample:

Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:19:35 PM Unrecognized access from 68.163.201.167:3102 to TCP port 17300

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:01:42 PM Unrecognized access from 82.82.167.36:2219 to TCP port 1433

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:01:45 PM Unrecognized access from 82.82.167.36:2219 to TCP port 1433

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:02:00 PM Unrecognized access from 168.158.192.243:1115 to UDP port 1434

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:03:17 PM Unrecognized access from 64.156.39.12:666 to UDP port 1026

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:32:05 PM Unrecognized access from 68.63.66.150:4625 to TCP port 80

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:32:08 PM Unrecognized access from 68.63.66.150:4625 to TCP port 80

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:44:50 PM Unrecognized access from 67.26.94.85:2911 to TCP port 17300

Thursday, December 18, 2003 9:57:23 PM Unrecognized access from 67.201.162.153:2771 to TCP port 17300

Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:12:22 PM Unrecognized access from 82.139.65.182:55765 to TCP port 17300

Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:39:02 PM Unrecognized access from 203.40.196.206:1239 to UDP port 1434

Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:49:17 PM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:3380 to TCP port 80

Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:49:20 PM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:3380 to TCP port 80

Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:52:46 PM Unrecognized access from 208.30.189.21:4436 to TCP port 80

Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:52:49 PM Unrecognized access from 208.30.189.21:4436 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:03:32 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:4846 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:03:35 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:4846 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:05:17 AM Unrecognized access from 12.231.175.190:3764 to TCP port 17300

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:31:32 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:3089 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:31:35 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:3089 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:48:44 AM Unrecognized access from 202.103.172.45:59355 to UDP port 1026

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:56:01 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:3359 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:56:04 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:3359 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:57:24 AM Unrecognized access from 210.75.208.22:39452 to TCP port 443

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:57:27 AM Unrecognized access from 210.75.208.22:39452 to TCP port 443

Friday, December 19, 2003 12:57:33 AM Unrecognized access from 210.75.208.22:39452 to TCP port 443

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:26:37 AM Unrecognized access from 203.30.181.253:2136 to TCP port 4899

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:27:04 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:4153 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:30:02 AM Unrecognized access from 67.120.13.53:3296 to TCP port 4000

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:30:04 AM Unrecognized access from 67.120.13.53:3296 to TCP port 4000

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:40:25 AM 192.168.123.101 login successful

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:44:11 AM Unrecognized access from 130.13.127.64:3788 to TCP port 17300

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:44:22 AM Unrecognized access from 66.169.181.90:1030 to TCP port 27347

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:47:39 AM Unrecognized access from 221.6.135.154:1097 to UDP port 1434

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:49:30 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:2594 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:49:32 AM Unrecognized access from 68.63.64.108:2594 to TCP port 80

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:51:12 AM Unrecognized access from 67.119.218.75:4868 to TCP port 901

Friday, December 19, 2003 1:51:15 AM Unrecognized access from 67.119.218.75:4868 to TCP port 901

What does it all mean? Let’s take the first entry.
Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:19:35 PM Unrecognized access from 68.163.201.167:3102 to TCP port 17300

It comes from:

Honda Pen Motorcycles

268 Bush St #5000

San Francisco, CA, 94104

US

I have no idea who Honda Pen Motorcycles is, but they’re assigned 8 Internet addresses, including 68.163.201.167. The addresses are, in turn, controlled by a subsidiary of their local phone company:

Pac Bell Internet Services

208 Bush St. #5000

San Ramon, CA, 94104

US

When Honda Pen Motorcycles’ computer tried to contact mine, they’re probing port 17300. That implies that one of the computers at Honda Pen Motorcycles is infected with the Kuang2 virus. In all likelihood, it’s wandering around the Internet, checking for other infected machines, or machines susceptible to being infected. The folks at the Honda dealership have no clue this is going on, or if they do, don’t know how to stop it.

Thanks guys!

Most of the activity causing my data light to blink doesn’t even show up in the log. Little of it is data I asked for. Less is there for my benefit.

There are dozens of little lights in this room. Some, like the blinking light on my desk phone, I disregard. In fact, I disregard most of them. They’re mostly telling me that appliances without on/off switches are plugged in.

All of these together probably don’t draw as much power as a night light. Still, in the aggregate, all these little lights in homes and offices are causing power plants to burn a little more coal or oil.

However, in their defense, my darkened room look very high tech.