A symbiotic company is a company which works together with other companies although initially it may seam that they are in direct competition. For example, company A provides security services and company B provides security services as well. Company A is not about market dominance, instead they try to work with company B in such a way that both companies benefit. Company A is a symbiotic company. It is twisted but it makes perfect sense to me.

This type of relationship does not imply that company B dominates company A. Not at all. This type of relationship implies that both companies have different working models and also different values. For example, company B may have tighter deadlines for and more streamed-lined services. Company A has loose deadlines but more creative output. On their own both companies have advantages and disadvantages but together they create a very powerful combination.

Again, this is certainly not about market dominance.

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Although there are several hugely successful massive collaboration projects such as Wikipedia, I believe that many people still haven’t got the idea yet. As such many decide to go ahead and do something by themselves. Now, there is nothing wrong with that and you certainly should do so if you think that it is the right thing to do, but keep in mind that it is hugely impractical. In an age where communication is easy, successful collaboration is the only way to compete in today’s fast paced world.

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Have you ever considered your future in their hands? You’ve been working for 50 years, your liver and kidneys start failing, creating visible symptoms, stains in your skin. You can’t handle life in the same way anymore. For what? What have you done in those 50 years but serving another man to become more wealthy and over powered. The approaching day of your death and its mere vision strikes you like a burning iron blade.

…talented youth started emerging and dedicated passionately to fulfill its curiosity. Day after day, spending countless hours in front of a machine. Understanding it’s inner design and details, breaking it apart and reassembling it the way it wasn’t meant to be assembled.

[a parable of looking for filthy lucre in a trade of love, only to to discover that these dark funds have tainted the joy and purity of a process and lifestyle that once brought fulfillment]

sooner or later every authentic hacker discovers that you must separate work from play. when you try and mix them both you betray the joy and fulfillment of hacking for a paycheck, and it never pays enough.

the ability of a person to deny and downplay this reality will determine their ability to abide the infosecwhore industry.

as captain of their own independent ship they can insulate themselves from much of this whoreish taint, but sooner or later a labor for lucre will destroy the love.

no need to preach, the authentic hacker will discover this on their own accord sooner or later. it is inevitable.

for those of you on the cusp of this realization and ready to start anew, do it. abandon ship. find a comfy admin or analyst position with decent benefits and a wage that pays the mortgage.

adopt that pseudonym and rediscover the joy of hacking for its own sake. the rewards are still there, worth more than a dollar can provide…

Of course, as being one of the main guys behind this project I couldn’t do anything else but to put down what I think about the matter. The text was slightly modified in order to fit into the type of content suitable for this site:

right, this is what I like to call hacker romanticism, but do you know what? it does not work this way! only in the movies, I guess! so if you are a hacker, if you truly believe that you are a hacker, then you will find a way to be better off then anybody else without the need to break any laws and without compromising your passions at all.

there is one very old Chinese saying: find a job that you love and you will never work for the rest of your life. Being a technically talented person and spending your life as a poor sysadmin is completely unnecessary. Running away from money because you think that they will corrupt you or they will compromise your identity is also quite foolish to say, don’t you think? money are just means to an end, a tool of trade, and sometimes this is exactly what you need in order to cross to the next level.

hacking is not about the inner geek and the vision of the lonely cyber worrier. hacking is about outsmarting others. it is about thinking creatively and moreover, thinking differently. if you can hack computer systems, then hack life. you will soon realize the the skills that you have obtained while being a technical hacker can be applied to many other disciplines, and these skills are more valuable then you think. collecting the fruits of your work is the most rewarding feeling.

the problem I see is that hacking has become something that is not. the computer security hacker circles lost the sense of creativity and turned it into plain procedure. most, if not all, of the security vulnerabilities disclosed today are discovered due to simple rules. you do this, you run that, you wait, you’ve got it. this is not hacking. given enough time, anybody can learn that. but embracing the mindset is something that a few can do.

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As far as I remember the concert on the right was the one that took place on the Red Square in Moscow.

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In the second footage we can see the same effect but produced with the help of Nintendo Wii, without no doubt, the best product of 2007 and maybe even 2008.

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Go check the website! You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

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Liked the video. Liked the sound. All in all, a good, creative work.

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So, do you really think that a single solution can protect you from all the badness of the Internet? Think again! It is too naive to think like that.

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If you don’t want me spoiling all the fun, please stop reading here. Magic is meant to be entertaining. Moreover, my interpretations might not be accurate although they may as well be used to perform a similar trick with the same effect. Therefore, reading is not recommended to those of you who enjoy magic for what it really is: entertainment.

When reading magic tricks you have to keep in mind that they are just tricks. You need to eliminate all the impossibilities from your head and start thinking of the magician/performer as a normal human being just like yourself. Magicians do not posses super powers of some sort. Saying that, it is simply not possible for Darren to know the future, nor his guest (David Tennant or Dr. Who for those of you who live in Britain).

This is a very good start. Once we throw away this simple fact, we need to look at all others which are more realistic. Knowing Darren’s work I hardly believe that he had ever used stooges for his performances. I believe that they are truly genuine. My assumption is that it all did happen the way it was shown on Channel 4. Again, it is quite important to have this in mind because otherwise your brain will jump all over the place, coming up with all kinds of conclusions which will definitely put you on the wrong track.

Keeping in mind that Darren, neither David, had no idea of what articles will appear in The Guardian 3 days after the first act took place, we have to assume that the letter which David had put into his pocket was forged on the day of the second act. That leads us to the conclusion that the real letter was substituted with a fake one. Now, let’s roll back in time and see some of the facts that support this conclusion.

The first Act

First of all, magic tricks are series of simple but very powerful acts. I must say that most magic tricks are 90% performance and 10% trickery. Ignore the pool and the mental relaxations and all other bits and pieces of a similar sort. They are there to suggest that something magical is about to happen. Second, pay attention on how weird the first act is. First of all, Darren asks David to write something down, which presumably is meant to open David’s hidden powers of predicting the future – another suggestion I guess. This is also used later as a proof that the actual letter is authentic. However, keep in mind that the top blank sheet of paper lays on the top of several other sheets which probably are made from a very, very soft material. Also, take a look at the pen. It seems that David hold a ballpoint pen which we all know to be quite sharp and as a result will mirror all the writings. On the top of that, pay attention that David is asked to write down his predictions in auto-pilot mode, without even looking at the sheet in front of him. Keep also in mind that he is repeatedly destructed by Darren. If you try this situation yourself you will see that your writings will turn out to be a complete nonsense. Of course, all this is done for a reason and the reason is to make the later forgery simpler and less questionable.

The second Act

On the day of the second act, Darren had completed the forgery before the performance as had have access to the morning paper. He used the the bottom sheets of paper to duplicate David’s writing style. There are several very delicate suggestions which Darren had put in place in order to make his act less questionable. All of these things will be ignored by your conscious brain but will be deeply absorbed by the unconscious one. Do you know what I am talking about? Pay attention to the actual envelopes. The bigger one is folded a bit. This may not seem too important but it is enough to drive your unconscious and conscious brain to amazement when Darren is done with you at the end of the performance. Now pay attention that for a moment Darren have both the envelope and the paper in his hands. This is where the switch happens. In fact, the real envelope is underneath the paper. And finally, pay attention on the actual article. Darren had chosen a very vivid, colorful article to grab your attention. Some words from the letter even appear inside the front picture. Wow! Now that must be pure magic.

The Result

The result is a well performed magic trick. I am sure you were amazed while watching the footages above.

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