Quick Roundup 43

Well, if this shows up twice later on, blame Blogger's email posting "capability".

Have I started something?

I see that the Objectivism Metablog has adopted my blog's mascot, albeit a different version, as its favicon. I have been doing this for some time, although it may not show up if you're using Internet Explorer. This is something I may finally fix some time in the next couple of weeks.

IE Users Beware

And speaking of inferior browsers, yet another vulnerability of Microsoft Internet Explorer has been uncovered. Dwight Silverman quotes the Secunia web site.

The vulnerability is caused due to a race condition in the loading of web content and Macromedia Flash Format files (".swf") in browser windows. This can be exploited to spoof the address bar in a browser window showing web content from a malicious web site. Secunia has constructed a test, which can be used to check if your browser is affected by this issue:

http://secunia.com/Internet_Explorer_Address_Bar_Spoofing_Vulnerability_Test/

The vulnerability has been confirmed on a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 6.0 and Microsoft Windows XP SP1/SP2. Other versions may also be affected.

He should have used the title, "Another Day, Another Reason to Get Firefox".

Unsurprisingly, Firefox is now used by more than ten percent of web surfers.

Nick Provenzo Equals ARI?

I found this very amusing.

And all this time, I thought George Reisman was "keeper of the flame".

It's about time!

Via Amit Ghate, I have learned that a television news program has finally dared to show some of the Mohammed cartoons on the air.

And, on a related note: Nick Provenzo's blog entry on last night's South Park episode, which I also watched, came up on a Google blog search. (I'd somehow missed it being up at Rule of Reason.) Although I didn't find the Family Guy subtheme as distracting as Nick did, I otherwise think he did a good job of summing up that episode.

As for the cartoon series airing pictures of Mohammed, it did so long ago in an episode called "Super Best Friends", which has even aired in Londonstan a couple of times to basically zero -- erm -- fanfare.

An episode of South Park, the controversial American cartoon show, which featured a visual portrayal of the prophet Mohammed, has been screened on British television twice and can currently be viewed on the internet.

The episode, entitled The Super Best Friends, did not attract a single complaint from Muslim clerics when it was aired by Channel 4 in 2002 and 2003. The lack of protest is in stark contrast to the controversy over the recent newspaper publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed.

The episode casts Mohammed as a Muslim super-hero who joins forces with Jesus and Moses, both of whom are considered prophets in the Muslim faith.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the show's creators, gave each of the religious figures a set of special powers to take on a rival Church founded by David Blaine, the American illusionist.

I'll be watching for the return of the "prophet" next week.

-- CAV