Dangers in the Age of Technology

Good evening and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

I apologize for last night’s lack of a blog entry. My Internet connection was shaky and wouldn't allow me to stay on for long, which greatly interrupted my research for my entry. Anyway, here’s this week’s first blog entry.

Folks, there is nothing magical or mysterious about tonight’s blog entry. Tonight this entry is rather concerning and disturbing, just like a pulled fire alarm. Nowadays, there are people who can hack into anything. Usually they target various accounts, but now it seems the stakes have risen and now they cause security breaches in various stores such as Michael’s and Target. However, one hacker in Cincinnati decided to invade something far more precious than chain stores or bank accounts. Rather, he hacked a baby monitor and broke the peacefulness of a quiet evening.

A few days ago in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Schreks were awakened by the sound of a stranger yelling obscenities at their sleeping infant. When they entered the room, it appeared their Foscam baby camera had a mind of its own, swiveling in the direction of the terrified baby. In reality, the intruder had hacked the monitor and controlled it to his pleasure. The Schreks immediately unplugged the camera to get the stranger out of their child’s room. By doing so, they lost all IP addresses including the intruder’s; meaning that they lost a dire piece of evidence that could have helped the police catch the criminal.

The situation is terrifying as is: a stranger staring and screaming at an infant through a baby monitor. But what makes it even more horrifying is the fact that an intruder hacked into something no one expected. As mentioned before, stores, accounts, and even web cams are prime targets for hackers.  But now this event makes us question: what else can these dangerously brilliant minds hack into?

We live in the age of technology, where so many gadgets depend on the Internet to carry out productive tasks. In this new era, most things that weren’t hooked up to the Internet before (video game consoles, toilet lids, refrigerators, and even homes) can now be hacked.  Heartbleed in particular, has not only targeted laptops and computers, but cell phones as well.  This virus now gives hackers the power of exploitation, to which they can harness to attack various Internet based devices, and other items. Hackers have also used Heartbleed and possibly other viruses, to hack into Internet routers. Even Internet Explorer has a newly discovered vulnerability, which could lead to more hackers succeeding at their attacks.

Almost every day we are encouraged to change our passwords, run virus scans daily, and update our systems. For now, these precautions protect us, but will there be a day when nothing can save us from hackers?

Feel free to comment and reblog, and as always, feedback and followers are welcomed.

Come What May

If anyone has seen the musical movie, Moulin Rouge, you are probably aware of the main villain, the Duke. The Duke is the villain of the movie musical who wants Satine like a cat wants cat nip.

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Mreow.

For those of you who don’t know what Moulin Rouge is, it’s a musical with the overall theme of freedom, beauty, truth, and love. It’s set in the Bohemian artistic period of France and is centered on Christian, a young penniless writer just starting out in the world. He stumbles into a case of mistaken identity at the Moulin Rouge burlesque bar, where he is thought to be the Duke. Satine, the wannabe actress confuses Christian for the Duke, and the two begin a love affair. Their relationship is met with the challenges of the relentless Duke and the obstacles of life.

However, from the many times that I have viewed this film I have reason to believe that the Duke is a sufferer of molestation. He may have been a child when this occurred and is just experiencing the results as an adult. I say this because he doesn’t appear to be showing the symptoms as though it recently happened. Rather, it appears he’s suffering the effects as though it took place during his childhood. Below are my three reasons why I believe this claim.

          1)      He Has Possible Trauma– when he makes the deal with Ziddler about turning the Moulin Rouge into a theater, you notice he has his bowler hat is in his lap. This is a typical custom to remove a hat during an important event and place it in the lap or on the coat rack. At one point, we see him furiously fumbling with his hat claiming that he doesn't like “people touching his things.”  The camera focuses on his lap while he does this. The scene is below here from Nostalgia Critic's review of Moulin Rouge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLqXH95rye4 - Youtube

I feel like this scene could be a personal, traumatic flashback he’s experiencing that the audience does not witness. How he delivers the line is in pure anger as well as his actions. However, we are constantly focused on his lap with the hat covering his groin. His things could refer to his genitalia if he was ever sexually molested. Even Ziddler has a reaction of pure horror at the Duke’s outburst.

           2)      He Confuses Emotional Needs With Sex – in Moulin Rouge ‘love’ is something understood by artists and not greedy businessmen, like the Duke. However, the Duke wants Satine for the reason of lust. He is immediately aroused by her dance moves and skimpy outfits. As a possible victim of molestation, the Duke would have a specific need for sex as a way of nurturing his pain. Sex is the only way that it can be cured for.

The things he was relating to in the previous number also relates to Satine because it’s who he wants in the Moulin Rouge. She is a prostitute, a woman whose job is to give physical pleasure to clients. He considers her as nothing more than a sexual object.  His lust comes to a peak when he attempts to rape her in the Gothic Tower. He no longer treats his relationship with Satine as something civil but as a horse that needs to be broken. The Duke performs threatening sexual acts towards her like ripping off her corset and throwing her onto the bed like a piece of luggage.

          3)      He Has Trust Issues  – in order to ensure that his deal goes the way he wants to, he holds onto the deed of the Moulin Rouge. When he discovers Satine is with Christian, he attempts to rape her. When he doesn't get his ending he tries to kill Christian and even orders Christian to be murdered by Warner, his body guard. These specific situations show the extremity of how far the Duke will go when not trusting others. Yet when we see him rehearsing the plays and popping in on Satine and Christian (who are constantly making out), he immediately trusts them without a thought.

Molestation often leads to an extreme range of trust from no trust at all to complete and total trust.

If you want to see me write about anything in particular, leave a comment. Feel free to follow me as well and have a great day. 

Serious and Mysterious

Good evening everyone and welcome to a rather serious, somewhat mysterious entry of The Magical Mystery Blog. I’m pretty sure most of you have heard this story tons of times by now. While it’s gradually fading away like decaying skeleton, it’s left a mark on America, and has raised awareness throughout the nation. Tonight I will be playing Devil’s Advocate for this entry. Sit back, enjoy, and when your done feel free to give feedback or comment.

For the past few months we have been plagued by the George Zimmerman case. This trial has been reported by way of the Internet, television, and other mediums. By now you can probably tell what Zimmerman and Martin look like no sooner you hear their names. For those of you who haven’t kept up on this story or could care less about it, Trayvon Martin was walking home from a store one night to his gated neighborhood home in Florida. While he was doing so, he was talking on his cell phone with his girlfriend. George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain of this community, reported a suspicious hooded figure (Martin) to his head officer. The officer informed Zimmerman to ignore this person but instead, he followed him. Zimmerman eventually caught up with Martin and a supposed fight broke out. In an attempt to defend himself, Zimmerman shot Martin. 

George Zimmerman has had a background of violence. He has had a few relationships often ending due to  domestic abuse, some of his partners went as far to get a restraining order against him. Zimmerman was also arrested, had a failed insurance business, resisted arrest, violence, and battery of an officer, and was withdrawn from college due to his harmful nature. In his young adult years, he lived in a neighborhood in Florida where break ins were supposedly caused by young black men. His surrounding residence and racial profiling led him to believe Martin was a burglar on the night of the shooting.

As for Trayvon Martin, he was a high school student with a bit of a background himself. He was supposedly suspended twice for crimes that should have put him in the slammer. His first suspension was due to him being captured with a burglary tool and women's jewelry. For his second suspension, he was caught with a bag of weed and a marijuana pipe to go with it. There are even sources out there that question if Martin was a drug dealer or not. The night of the murder, Martin was walking home from the store.

This case was the modern day O.J. Simpson in which it was race versus race. George Zimmerman is a Caucasian Hispanic and Trayvon Martin was an African American. The media helped in portraying the trial as a battle of the races, to see which one could dominate the other. Race is currently a touchy issue in our nation and this case helped in sparking an even greater fire of racism. But even so, while America deals with this sensitive matter, why should it help in deciding who wins or loses a trial? Shouldn't evidence do that?

The evidence in this case was a bit unsettling. For starters, the phone call Martin had was between himself and his girlfriend. When the police went to call her, they were unable to because Martin had a password on his phone that no one else knew other than him. Secondly, it was raining the night of the encounter between Martin and Zimmerman. If any blood was shed, it would have been found on both of the bodies, and possibly the surrounding area. Due to the rain though, it could have easily been washed away. Even more so, there was no DNA of Martin found on Zimmerman or his gun which Martin supposedly reached for during the scuffle. 

This case also questions how well the Stand Your Ground Law is and our overall judicial system. While George Zimmerman, a man with a history of violence, was let loose for shooting a teenager, two women who were abused were imprisoned. The first woman fired warning shots at her attacker and was given a sentenced time in prison. The other woman defended herself against a gang who was harassing her and she was also given time in the slammer. Race was not defined in these minor trials and the trials highlighted were not at all. At best they were briefly mentioned when compared to the Zimmerman case. 

Furthermore, Zimmerman did not even use the Stand Your Ground Law in his appeal. If anything, he told his story of what happened that night and did not even mention that law. The women on the other hand, claimed to have used that law when telling their stories of what happened to them. This makes one wonder how the women could have been sentenced to jail time when they clearly used a law that was in their favor. It also questions how a man, who did not even use that law in his story, literally got away with murder.

The media is currently caught in a conflict of how to portray Zimmerman. While it has mostly depicted Martin as an innocent struck down by a maniac with a gun, few sources pictured the teenager as an attacker who ruthlessly struck Zimmerman. As for Zimmerman, he was mostly revealed as a villain throughout the trial while some stations tried to imagine him as a hero for standing up for himself while being attacked. Now we have a new report of Zimmerman being envisioned as a wonderful person for saving a family trapped in a car. This makes one wonder if this new, Superman like image of Zimmerman will wash out the negativity he received during the trial. However, some are claiming that this car rescue was a staged event to help prove he is a good man despite his past actions.

This case has caused a ton of people to stand on different sides because of race, racial profiling, crimes caused by it, and guns. Protesters have risen throughout the nation, claiming the slogan 'Justice for Trayvon' along with other phrases, and images. However, there are those who believe it was right that Martin was shot.

In the midst of the Zimmerman trial, I’m honestly a bit wary of everything. I find it strange that the man, who killed a child and has a background history of violence, was acquitted for murder. But two abused women who were defending themselves and using that law in their defense were sent to jail. I do not believe Martin should have been murdered but he should have been arrested for his previous crimes. As for Zimmerman, I do believe he should have been arrested on both charges of second degree murder and manslaughter.

I also believe race should not determine trial results, the level of justice that you receive, your treatment, or anything at all. Race is a part of who you are, your genes, and your heritage. It’s another trait that defines you as a unique individual. As for myself, I’m an Italian girl who does not treat or judge others by their color or race. Honestly, you could be any nationality and/or any race in the world – it would not matter to me because you are still a person, just like I am.

If you show me kindness, I will give you the same. If you treat me unfairly, I will question why you did so, rise above your harmful antics, and hope that karma will serve its justice in the future. I believe in peace and everyone not judging each other by their color or race despite the fact that I know not all of society is like that. While I was taught to treat others by way of the golden rule (and I believe in that as well), I find karma to be more of my jar of jam. It allows life to take its course and delivers justice in a way it sees fit. It happens unexpectedly, like murder on a rainy night.