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PATH: BS | Technology | Internet

AOL Nailed For Refusing To Cancel Customer Accounts Posted by Pile (6925 views) [E-Mail link]
AOL and New York State have reached a settlement that includes AOL paying a $1.25 million fine and agreeing to reform its customer service procedures. The agreement stems from consumers' complaints that AOL customer service representatives would either ignore requests, or make it unduly difficult to cancel their service. In what they claim is an unrelated story, AOL has announced that it's relocating its Accounts Payable department to Nigeria.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-09-14 19:24:14 \| Comment on this Article

Google Talk ..is Cheap (If You Don't Care About Privacy) Posted by Pile (8032 views) [E-Mail link]
Today Google has announced Google Talk. This is their competition to AIM, ICQ and all the other instant messaging applications on the net. Since it centers around Google's Gmail account system, you can safely assume this is more information exchanging between people that Google will archive forever and exploit later. Nothing to be worried about, if you are comfortable sacrificing your personal security to a big corporation. Don't get me wrong. I like Google. I enjoy their services. But I know that online privacy policies are worth the paper they're written on. Any single company that has that much information passing through it, that never deletes anything, is a privacy accident waiting to happen.
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New Zotob Windows Worm Hits CNN, NY Times and ABC Posted by Pile (6339 views) [E-Mail link]
The ZOTOB virus appeared shortly after the world's largest software maker warned of three newly found "critical" security flaws in its software last week, including one that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer. However, the latest version of the virus seems to be targeting Windows 2000 servers, an old and bug-ridden Microsoft software that apparently many prominent companies are still using. It's hard to be sympathetic to these companies when they have many more resources than us small-timers who are completely immune to infection by these worms.
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Spammer Faces Up to 640 Years In Prison Posted by Pile (8672 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
Florida spammer, Scott Levine was found guilty in Federal court on 120 counts of unauthorized access to data, two counts of access device fraud and one count of obstruction of justice, and now faces up to $30M in fines and 640 years in a Federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison. The owner of spam company, Snipermail.com was caught stealing 1.6 billion user records from data-management company Acxiom Corp. No word if Acxiom got in trouble for the crappy security it had in place which allowed so much of its customer info to be pilfered. In any case, it's a happy day when one more spammer gets taken down. We have to give the Feds props for finally going after these people.
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Microsoft Blacks Out Area 51; Google Doesn't Posted by Pile (8552 views) [E-Mail link]	[Beating Dead Horses]
In the war between Earth image browsers, it doesn't seem like much of a challenge. Microsoft's satellite imagery shows vintage stuff like the twin towers and the nonexistence of things like Apple's headquarters (presumably due to old satellite data) whereas Google's system is up to date and in color. Another interesting tidbit is that the infamous Area 51 shows up on Google but Microsoft has it blacked out. No word yet if Microsoft has also blacked out Barbara Striesand's home.
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Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered Posted by Pile (8695 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-08-02 21:19:38 \| Comment on this Article

Fox Acquires MySpace.com Posted by Pile (8459 views) [E-Mail link]
New Corporation, run by Rupert Murdock & Co., which also owns Fox, has acquired Intermix Media, Inc., operators of the popular MySpace.com online community. This move heralds the formation of a new division within Murdock's empire, Fox Interactive Media. News Corp shelled out $580 Million in the transaction. It wouldn't be difficult to speculate that the motive behind this was to recapture the audiences that have been lost to New Corp's other television, print and cinema divisions. The big question is whether people will start a mass exodus from MySpace if they start seeing Bill O'Reilly ads all over the place? Can we now expect MySpace.com to be "Fair and balanced?"
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-07-21 23:38:13 \| Comment on this Article

Lame Anti-Spyware Bill Passed House, Stuck in Senate Posted by Pile (8877 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
Computer users MAY be excited by H.R. 29: Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, which passed (393-4) the House and is currently stuck in Senate committee. Also known as the Spy Act (no intended reference to Karl Rove), would outlaw the act of taking over a computer in order to send unauthorized information or code, as well as diverting a Web browser without the permission of the computer owner. Unfortunately, as is typical in D.C., all is not what it appears. This Anti-Spyware bill does more to take away peoples' security and give comfort to spyware companies, but hey, it's got a catchy title that sounds effective, so maybe nobody will notice?
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Popular Web Site Desperately Tries to De-Promote Itself Posted by Pile (8703 views) [E-Mail link]
SomethingAwful got a segment on G4-TechTV and the order came down from high up, "If we see an increase in traffic as a result of your TV appearance, you've failed." Watch as the hilarity unfolds as a popular counterculture web site, desperately tries to de-emphasize its significance on a burned out cable channel.
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New Microsoft Anti-Spyware Tool Ignores Spyware Posted by Pile (9669 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
In the wake of the availability of Microsoft's anticipated anti-spyware tool, closer examination indicates that Microsoft is ignoring their own rules for what classifies as spyware and what should be removed from a person's PC if found. Apparently major spyware purveyors have talked Microsoft into letting them off the hook, and there are rumors that Microsoft is in the process of acquiring a major spyware vendor itself.
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Dell Shuts Down Part Of Its Online Customer Service Posted by Pile (8223 views) [E-Mail link]
Want to complain on Dell's website about its customer service? Too late - the Customer Support Forums, operational until last Friday, have been shut down, apparently to try to quell bad publicity there about Dell products and especially after-care service.
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Researchers Say Spam Is Good For You Posted by Pile (10003 views) [E-Mail link]	[Dubious Research] [Spam]
According to a report published at LiveScience, A steady diet of spam -- the electronic variety -- can be good for you. Researchers split a group of more than 2,100 Canadians into two groups. One group got emails that promoted healthy lifestyles, the other got none. Those who were 'spammed' apparently saw their body mass go down.. Unfortunately, these boneheads sent out daily affirmations, not a barrage of teen sex, mortgage and stock scams, and cheap medications. It's quite a stretch for these people to call their research on "spam" as most of us define it.
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Koreans Launch Cyber-Attack Against Ill-Mannered Woman Posted by Pile (7117 views) [E-Mail link]	[Activists]
Ok, you're on a train in Korea carrying your little doggie and he makes a mess on the floor. What do you do? a) Clean it up b) Ignore fellow passengers requests that you clean up your dog's mess, tell them to F-off, have someone take pictures of you from their cameraphone and post it all over the Internet, creating a country-wide witch hunt, exposing your identity and ruining your life. If you answered A, you'd be smart. If you answered B, you'd be this girl.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-12-04 16:44:21 \| Comment on this Article

Hotmail Users' Security/Privacy at Risk Posted by Pile (8990 views) [E-Mail link]
Microsoft took part of its MSN Web site offline over the weekend, after it learned of a flaw that could let an attacker gain access to Hotmail accounts, the company said.
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Hackers Shut Down Phishing Sites Posted by Pile (8310 views) [E-Mail link]	[Activists]
In the wake of the government and law enforcement's seemingly profound inability to enforce fraud laws and go after spammers and scammers online, computer people are taking matters into their own hands and taking action against online scam operations.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-05-26 14:48:01 \| Comment on this Article

Microsoft DNS Exploit Hits IE Users All Over Posted by Pile (9890 views) [E-Mail link]
While most of the Internet is using Unix-based DNS servers to handle hostname resolution, some companies and ISPs using Windows servers have been hit with a nasty attack that redirects .com addresses to special web sites that look for users running Internet Explorer and loads their systems with spyware and other malicious programs. Reason # 34,987,343 why you should be using Firefox and stay away from ISPs who are foolish enough to be running Microsoft servers for stuff like DNS.
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PA Republican Wants To Stop Free Weather Reports Posted by Pile (8004 views) [E-Mail link]
Pennsylvania representative Rick Santorum, under the control of corporate interests who run commercial weather services, is introducing legislation to shut down the free weather information available online from the National Weather Service. This is taxpayer-funded, valuable information available to the people that is encroaching on profits of select corporate interests and they're buying politicians to shut it down. Shame Shame.
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Comcast Sued For Selling Out Their Customers Posted by Pile (11552 views) [E-Mail link]
A Washington mother of two is suing Comcast for releasing her personal information to the RIAA, who then unleashed a collection agency to extort $4500 from her for downloading copyrighted music, or face legal action. The issue here is that Comcast burped out customer information without appropriate legal due process. Let this be a lesson to cable Internet customers... companies like Comcast don't respect your rights. At least DSL from telephone companies are more respectful of customers' privacy.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-04-18 19:19:46 \| Comment on this Article

Your Macromedia/Flash Browser Plug-In Has Been Spying on You! Posted by Pile (7778 views) [E-Mail link]
Who knew? Though we probably should have suspected, that Macromedia's Flash Plug-in, which most browsers are using to view cute animation and annoying ads, also has the ability to store personal identification information and even listen in on your computer's microphone or internet-enabled camera!
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How To Destroy A Web Page For Fun Posted by Pile (14149 views) [E-Mail link]	[The "Buzz"]
A new site promises an interesting and creative way for people to take their frustrations out on web sites. Still no cure for cancer, but it's refreshing to know that more technical people are spending so much time and energy on important pursuits like these.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-07-17 18:22:54 \| Comment on this Article

Utah Governor Forces ISPs To Filter Internet Content Posted by Pile (8400 views) [E-Mail link]
Utah's governor has defied criticism from technology firms and free speech activists to sign into law a bill designed to protect children from Internet pornography, which forces ISPs to block access to web sites deemed "harmful to minors". Utah huh? I thought the Mormons were supposed to be the model family structure? Are they now admitting that they need state-sanctioned help in controlling what media their children have access to? Then again, this state also has the highest prozac consumption in the country, so methinks this bubble has finally burst.
READ MORE \| No comments \| Comment on this Article

Online Banks' Poor Web Design Compromises Customers' Security Posted by Pile (7780 views) [E-Mail link]
The "net-smart" consumer knows better than to fall for phishing scams where dubious people try to con you into submitting personal information into a mysterious web form, but now thanks vulnerabilities and poor design in many online banks' web sites themselves, crooks can use the bank's web site, such as Charter One to display the illegal activity within a frame from their own web site! To add insult to injury, Netcraft reports that most banks are among the slowest entities to fix these types of problems.
READ MORE \| No comments \| Comment on this Article

DailyKOS offline/down/sabotaged Posted by Pile (10164 views) [E-Mail link]	[Activists]
The infamous left-oriented web site DailyKOS, for whatever reason, is currently offline. It's actually still online but due to site design, poor choice in domain registrar, they are being kept offline.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2012-11-02 19:27:11 \| Comment on this Article

Amazon seeks to patent search history, and never delete it. Posted by Pile (8475 views) [E-Mail link]
The USPTO has published Amazon.com's patent application for Persistently storing and serving event data, a fancy way of saying Amazon wants to own the process of remembering everything a user searches on. What's even more interesting is that as part of the patent application, Amazon's version of allowing a user to "delete his search history" merely renders the information "undisplayable" but still makes the information available for other (potentially dubious?) uses. Furthermore, Amazon requested the USPTO to not make the application public.
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Gangsta Cultcha Hits Da Search Engines Y'erd Meh! Posted by Pile (15435 views) [E-Mail link]	[The "Buzz"]
You say you want to do some research for your term paper, but you want it with an urban, gangsta rap edge that so beautifully epitomizes your Infro-mational needz? Well, worry no mo, mah nizzle... Gazoogle iz in da howze!
READ MORE \| 15 comments since 2007-11-30 11:39:38 \| Comment on this Article

Louisiana Man Pleads Guilty to Launching WebTV 911 Worm Posted by Pile (5554 views) [E-Mail link]
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that, roughly a year after his arrest, David Jeansonne pleaded guilty Tuesday to two criminal counts in a scheme that sent email to users of Microsoft's WebTV Internet service containing an attachment that, when opened, reprogrammed their computers to dial 9-1-1 without their knowledge. It still unclear what motivated this 43-year-old to launch such a bizarre worm, then again, we are talking Louisiana.
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AOL unsubscribes its users from Usenet Posted by Pile (6064 views) [E-Mail link]
The world's largest ISP is cutting off direct access to one of the oldest, coolest -- and strangest -- parts of the Internet.
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Finally a state Attorney General sues some spammers Posted by Pile (8796 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
In what appears to be a long, long, long overdue move on the part of state attorney generals to get off their asses and start taking action against spammers, the state of Texas and specifically AG Greg Abbott has stepped up and is suing two men believed to be among the largest spammers in the United States. Unfortunately this is only a civil case... but hopefully there will be criminal prosecution to follow.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-01-14 16:13:40 \| Comment on this Article

Another Microsoft vulnerability: cursors and icon files Posted by Pile (9017 views) [E-Mail link]
CERT writes, "Microsoft Windows contains multiple vulnerabilities in the way that it handles cursor and icon files. A remote attacker could execute arbitrary code or cause a denial-of-service condition." In other words, yet more vulnerabilities in core Widnows routines which make IE and other systems vulnerable to exploitation by visiting web sites which load these files. Be especially wary now of the favicon.ico files which most web sites load which give you those cute little icons next to the web address in your browser.. they can cause your computer to be compromised.
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Google blog reveals lonely life of techies Posted by Pile (8580 views) [E-Mail link]	[Lonely People]
"At Google we take user email seriously. If you ask us for help with a Google-related problem, we'll do our best to solve it. If you send us product feedback, we'll consider and perhaps implement your suggestion. And if you impugn the artistic integrity of the guy who draws the Google doodles, you can expect a very direct and very public smackdown."
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Grass roots web site eats into corporate profits Posted by Pile (7723 views) [E-Mail link]
The popular underground classifieds web site Craigslist, recently partially acquired by eBay, is now getting attention as mainstream media are complaining that Craigslist is costing them millions in lost revenue.
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Exploit launched for most popular web messageboard app Posted by Pile (7904 views) [E-Mail link]
CERT has sent out a security bulletin outlining what appears to be a major flaw in phpBB, the Internet's most popular messageboard software. There appears to be automated scripts seeking out vulnerable messageboards on the Internet, whereupon they are compromised or defaced. Mediocre webmasters all over the world will end up having some holiday headaches if they don't update their systems.
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Internet summed up in 26 keywords Posted by Pile (5250 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
Google's new Suggest feature provides hints as-you-type, based on the most popular search queries. So without further adieu, here's an A-to-Z list of what the Internet is all about: the most popular keyword searches for each letter.
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Holiday greeting e-mail hides nasty worm Posted by Pile (7610 views) [E-Mail link]
The Zafi.D worm, which disguises itself as an e-mail holiday greeting, is currently the most frequently detected worldwide virus, software security company Panda Software said this week.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2004-12-20 13:34:44 \| Comment on this Article

Google upset over "click fraud" Posted by Pile (9538 views) [E-Mail link]
A top Google official said that growing abuse of the company's lucrative sponsored ad-search model jeopardizes the popular Internet search engine's business. He's talking about "click fraud". They claim people are clicking on sponsored links illegitimately to cause advertisers to pay more money. We here at BSA have never quite understood how the whole pay-per-click model would ever be "fraud proof" and aside from obvious attempts, how do you determine what is and isn't a legitimate click?
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CNN spoof site claiming Bush arrested in Canada Posted by Pile (5436 views) [E-Mail link]
There's a buzz going around the Internet regarding the supposed arrest of George Bush for war crimes upon his visit to Canada. An enterprising individual has created a clever mock-CNN site that appears like the real thing, complete with lots of detail and stats on the supposed charges against the U.S. president.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-01-16 10:24:24 \| Comment on this Article

Only takes 4 Minutes online before your Microsoft PC is infected Posted by Pile (7735 views) [E-Mail link]
USA Today has a story outlining how long ones' fresh PC might last connected to the Internet before it's infected. If you're running Microsoft XP with SP1, you may have approximately four minutes of time before your PC is infected and compromised. This is an indication of the overwhelming amount of virus/worm traffic randomly hitting Internet machines that the top-level ISPs adn the enforcement authorities seem to not give a damn about addressing.
READ MORE \| 3 comments since 2004-12-15 14:16:43 \| Comment on this Article

New screen saver fights back against spammers Posted by RantMaster (9086 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
"Make Love Not Spam": Lycos has announced a clever new free screen saver that targets known spam servers and when your computer is idle, drains a bit of bandwidth from them, supposedly to cost spammers more money in bandwidth costs. Seems like a cool idea to me.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2004-12-01 19:44:54 \| Comment on this Article

Finally, a use for those AOL CDs Posted by RantMaster (6153 views) [E-Mail link]
Finally, a creative soul has figured out a way to make something useful from the thosands of promotional AOL CDs that seem to be invading our mailboxes. Ed's Note: It should be noted that the attached image is (c) Stupidco.com. Our branding image overwrote that.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2004-11-27 21:30:48 \| Comment on this Article

Internet porn worse than crack? Posted by Pile (8032 views) [E-Mail link]	[Dubious Research]
Internet pornography is the new crack cocaine, leading to addiction, misogyny, pedophilia, boob jobs and erectile dysfunction, according to clinicians and researchers testifying before a Senate committee Thursday.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2004-11-24 04:02:21 \| Comment on this Article

Spinwatch debuts as another media watchdog Posted by Pile (5578 views) [E-Mail link]	[News Media]
While we consider ourselves part of the contingent that is endeavoring to keep the media in check, we're not alone. The most recent addition to the counter-spin arena is a web site run by a professor at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, entitled Spinwatch.
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10x10 - A new perspective on news Posted by Pile (7446 views) [E-Mail link]
A new site has sprung up in the last week called "10x10". The idea behind the site is that it scans the news feeds from various online networks and uses linguistic analysis to identify the 100 most active words, displaying them and corresponding pictures in a 10x10 grid. A kind of futuristic interface to news stories ranked by their permutation in the wire services. Innovative? Or much ado about nothing? You decide.
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Please hold for the President of the United States Posted by PoopScoop (10426 views) [E-Mail link]
You are home minding your business when the phone rings and you look down at the Caller ID and it's the White House. The caller asks you to "Please hold for the President of the United States." Is this for real you ask yourself.... Well...
READ MORE \| 8 comments since 2005-01-20 08:06:43 \| Comment on this Article

Bush's re-election web site not available to Europeans Posted by RantMaster (5101 views) [E-Mail link]
For some strange reason, the BBC is reporting that GW Bush's web site is denying access to many countries outside the U.S. The net is buzzing with speculation as to why the administration doesn't want other countries to access Bush's web site, with many calling it a PR disaster for the President and yet another slap in the face of US-International relations. Perhaps GW only meant to block access to some of the Internets as opposed to all.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2004-11-12 11:57:08 \| Comment on this Article

Pres. candidates' Internet expenses revealed Posted by Pile (5055 views) [E-Mail link]
How much would you pay to run your political web sites? Well, if you're GW Bush, you and your associates have doled out a whopping $1.5M, including such hefty figures as $54,000 for "e-mail programming" - some nice mercs they have on their team, compared with Kerry's modest outlay of somewhere in the area of $50k.
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Microsoft-based web sites have major vulnerability Posted by Pile (7440 views) [E-Mail link]
An advisory has been released regarding a vulnerability in Microsoft's ASP .NET technology which apparently allows people to bypass password security on web sites. You might want to worry if you're doing business with a company who uses some of this insecure Microsoft technology for their e-commerce systems. Your personal information may be at risk.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2004-10-07 13:57:48 \| Comment on this Article

Spamcop settles court case with spammer. End result: nothing Posted by Pile (8729 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
Notorious spammer, Optinrealbig sued Spamcop/Ironport, the company promoting one of the most effective blacklisting operations against spammers. The case has recently been settled and in a typically useless scenario, no details have been made public on the nature of the settlement. Spammer sues anti-spam company; anti-spam company claims nothing has changed; spammer claims nothing has changed. Score: Consumers 0, Lawyers 1.
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eBay Germany Gets DNS Hijacked Posted by Pile (5266 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
Most "phishing" (attempts to coerce stupid consumers out of personal information) largely rely on e-mail and spoofing of web sites. In Germany, some enterprising criminals actually managed to co-opt the DNS for eBay Germany for a few hours and redirect legitimate traffic to a fake site. Obviously eBay is quite upset about this, and rightly so. Someone dropped the ball here and allowed an unauthorized DNS change for a major site. If the top-level ISPs can't be trusted to follow security procedures, what are we left with? I am equally upset. I was high bidder on the Hindenburg-embossed toaster cozy until this snafu.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2008-08-18 02:28:43 \| Comment on this Article

Fun With Google, Part Deux Posted by Pile (5208 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
In a previous article, we exposed how credit card numbers could be snarfed from irresponsible hosts online using Google. SecurityFocus has a neat article on other search tricks. How about browsing unprotected directories or snatching some dork's entire Outlook settings and address book!
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2008-08-19 01:51:56 \| Comment on this Article

Tricks of the Trade Posted by Pile (9393 views) [E-Mail link]	[The "Buzz"]
Every profession has various subtle tricks. The Morning News has put together an interesting compendium of Tricks of the Trade. Did you know butchers have their own special dirty language; how a nurse tells if a patient is actually asleep, or what never to do when you're making baloon animals?
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