Crowds

What’s in a name

/ John Wagenvoort / Leave a comment

So Friday the 19th of July saw the world wake to a major cyber issue. Telcos, Airports, Hospitals and Banks were amongst the some around the world that were presented with the Microsoft Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) on their computers.

The issue was brought about by an update of a cyber security endpoint solution running on Microsoft Windows systems. One System32\Drivers system file with just a minor oversight within it caused the hosting windows machine to get caught in a BSOD boot loop.

Annoying? Yes. Inconvenient? You bet. Train stations, airports, hospitals and supermarkets and other major corporations all running this end point protection solution on Windows systems were effectively brought to a standstill world wide.

Now the clincher and hence the title. The company behind this minor cyber hiccup is aptly named Crowdstrike. The very event this company had clients pay dearly to protect themselves against was responsible for it.

Remember the name. Crowdstrike. Marvellous.

Special mention also (as an aside) goes to Up Hill Real Estate. We rang them and it was Up Hill from there on.

Bangkok Airport

/ John Wagenvoort / Leave a comment

The flight from Melbourne to Bangkok was as can be expected from any nine hour flight.

Bought some noise canceling headphones and they worked as expected. The red LED that indicates the headphones are on, worked within parameters. Should have stuck with the Apple earbuds I bought last year.

I heard a great quote once that goes along the lines of, “I don’t mind crowds, it’s the individual’s in them I don’t like.” Well, I’ve got to say, I’m not one to prematurely criticize an Architects dream of immortalizing themselves by way of their designs and BKK airport must therefor rate a mention. I’ve seen cattle yards in Australia that work more efficiently. A lot could also be learned by visiting some our shearing sheds in the outback. Imagine trying to stuff the shorn sheep back from whence it came.

Anyway our only issue was with my beloved needing to procure a local sim card for her phone. You’d think you’d be able to get a signal in one the worlds bigger cattle yards. Sorry, I meant airport. I’m still an apprentice when it comes to dealing with an angry Thai woman. I need a few more years to graduate I think.

Our niece Bew picked us up, from the Taxi ranks I might add. Uneventful trip back to her place. The first 30 minutes of the trip were very uneventful. It was interesting to see how high the floods had come. Bew was quite lucky living in a double story as it enabled her to shift most of her furniture upstairs. Not everyone was as fortunate. Sources say the same thing is going to happen again this year. Repairs will have to wait.

Today we’ll be off to Kanchanaburi, or better known as the River Kwai.