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ESET Aiding Terrorists?

Ian Grist — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:52:03 +0000

A good friend and ex-coworker of mine from my ESET days was wrapped up in a scandal around the downloading of NOD32 in Iran. My buddy Charles noticed a massive increase in traffic coming from Iran, and increased downloads of security products. He immediately brought this to the attention of company executives, and (not surprisingly) they failed to take any action. Charles ended up being the whistleblower, bringing this to the attention of the US government when it was apparent that a large and noticeable amount of software had been downloaded in Iran, where current government requirements call for a license for all software sold (these copies may have been downloaded illegally).

Not surprisingly, Charles was fired soon thereafter. I say not surprisingly, because many of my close friends and associates have been fired from the company for fairly ambiguous reasons. There are quite a few people who I worked closely with that were fired without notice or warning, and in pretty underhanded ways. A great friend of mine was literally tricked into walking into his “forced resignation”. Our manager walked up to him and asked if he could join him in a meeting to go over some details on a current project – of course he complied and upon walking into the conference room he was surprised to find HR and executive team members waiting to walk him out. The manager then closed the door and left, and he wasn’t even given a chance to collect his things. Another good buddy was set up with an accusation of of falsifying timecards, and let go without a chance to prove otherwise (and no acknowledgement of the hours dedicated to overtime that he didn’t charge the company for)… I could go on for days with stories about the inner workings. Things I definitely didn’t agree with or think were fair, but I doubt they are too interesting to anyone who wasn’t involved.

Please take a look and read through the article. It’s pretty interesting, and gaining some publicity. I certainly don’t wish anything negative for ESET, as I spent some great years there, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any merit to this story. Its an interesting situation, and the tech community should be aware.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/24/computer-firm-faces-scrutiny-over-iran-downloads/?page=all

Some Hilarious Facebook Advice

Ian Grist — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 07:05:56 +0000

Hit the link to check out the specifics of what this creeper was writing to her on FB. The good stuff is in the comments where three chicks give him advice on how to talk to his daughter, followed by a comment from the Creeper. hahahahaha

clipped from www.reddit.com

Was checking on my 13 year old daughter’s facebook account the other day and noticed a series of messages between her and a 25 year friend of my ex-wife. The friend lives in another state where my ex used to live and my daughter met him there a couple years ago.

Most of the comments on just common conversation back and forth, but there were a couple that got my attention immediately.

Check out the full post here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ervd7/found_inappropriate_comments_to_my_teen_daughter/

and the top four comments, especially “Creeper here: I wouldn’t worry about it, probably no big deal.”

Dude Gets the Ultimate Test – Dump this Bitch!

Ian Grist — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:12:51 +0000

Article from Reddit

There’s been a joke floating around Reddit/the Internet for ages where the husband-to-be is asked to come over to the bride’s house for a favor. The bride isn’t there but the little sister is, little sister tries to seduce him, he runs outside, and the whole family is outside congratulating him on not succumbing to her temptation. The joke being that he keeps his condoms in the car and was just going to get them…

Guess what? This shit HAPPENED to me today.

My girlfriend calls me over to help her friend (who is definitely not unattractive and I’ve known quite well for some time) with some computer problem. I show up and the friend tells me the GF ran out to do some quick errands. I ask about the computer and she starts bullshitting about how it’s been “running slow” or some other non-point issue.

Suddenly, the friend asks if I think she is attractive. I hesitate. Not wanting to upset one of the future bridesmaids I tell her “of course, you’re pretty.” She then starts telling me all this shit about how she has always had her eye on me, and how nice I was, and how hot I was…

I was kind of just floored. After that she fully came on to me. Went for the embrace, tried to convert to kiss. I pulled away, excused myself, and went out the door.

Head count: Mom, 3 other friends, my girlfriend, and her sister are outside waiting for me. They all laugh and cheer, the girlfriend runs up and jumps in my arms like I’m some sort of hero, and the mom has tears running down her cheek. They all kept saying how glad they were I “passed the test” and how “good I was” for her, etc.

I smiled a bit, was really shaken up. In the middle of all the celebration I quietly said I wasn’t feeling well, and excused myself. Got in the car and drove off (small burnout, it’s what the Camry could manage), and have been hitting ignore on the countless phone calls I’ve gotten since then. As of this post (6:13AM PST), it’s been about 12 hours since the incident and I still can’t place my thoughts.

On one hand, I feel deeply and utterly betrayed. On the other, it’s ridiculous to the point that it’s funny and my girlfriend has never done anything even close to this before. Reddit, talk to me. What are your thoughts?

EDIT: (6:50AM PST) Wow, the initial feedback is huge. I guess this struck a chord with many people. I e-mailed her a little note that basically said I needed “some time to think about what happened today.” I haven’t slept at all so I think I’m going to see if I can get a few hours in and then go from there. Thanks for all the kind words so far.

Wow, I’ve heard that joke before a million times, but never thought that would actually happen to someone. I would be so mad if a girl actually did that to me. He got quite a few responses on Reddit, I was pretty impressed – and there’s some good stuff on there! One of my favorites:

This is more inline with my reaction. Imagine how she’d react to any sort of test.

Send her shopping with a mutual friend and have that friend talk her into charging a fabulous pair of shoes that she really can’t afford. Fail; because she will break you financially eventually.

Offer her two snacks, carrot sticks or carrot cake. If she takes the cake. Fail; because she’ll become a fatty eventually.

Call her on the phone on your way home from work. Tell her you are going to have a drink with the guys. If she tries to stop you. Fail; because you’ll have no friends eventually.

If she gets angry at being tested. Fail; because she has different standards for herself than what she applies to you.

Michael Jackson is Dead

Ian Grist — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:27:16 +0000

UPDATE: Apparently Jacko died from food poisoning!

…

He ate some 12 year old nuts!

Alternate title for this article:

“Kids Across America Sleep Soundly Tonight”

The King of Pop died today. Apparently, he had a troop of boy scouts over at the Neverland ranch, and it was just too much for his old heart to handle. He was eating those kids like popcorn when the ticker just gave out. I’m sure he died with a smile on his face, and a little eagle scout in his arms he exhaled his final “He Heeeeee!”

“Have you been up my wishing tree
Its where I come to think and dream,
and now I’d like to show you my wishing tree
where we can laugh and giggle and scream (He He),
imagination is the key, wont you imagine along with me,
we can be spacemen, or pirates on the sea,
yes we can do everything and i mean everything,
up in my wishing tree!”

My favorite Jacko Moment:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJV1facRsC0

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/26/2609021.htm?section=entertainment

I’m Dead

Ian Grist — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:02:08 +0000

I’m Dead. Ian Grist died on Monday, April 8, 2002. I had a good run though!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ian-grist-729899.html

In private, he liked his Guinness, was grateful to have escaped with his life when a Jaguar wrecked his own car on the M4, read a good deal of science fiction and loved listening to music. He knew his own mind and, …was always a fount of shrewd common sense.