Today a whole bunch of random sites I was trying to visit were down. Things like a local tire shop, some rando's blog, etc. I thought maybe it was just our shitty work Internet, but it turns out that (some member(s) of) Anonymous were attacking GoDaddy.com's DNS servers, leading to a whole bunch of sites being down today. A tweet (linked from the article above) laid out the rationale for the attack: The NYT (and others) helpfully suggest that the rationale was retaliation for GoDaddy's support of the SOPA legislation, although it's not clear that anyone who actually carried out the attack had this in mind. A while ago, Anonymous also hacked into some government computers in Arizona and leaked some files. They said it was to protest the anti-immigration laws being considered in Arizona (and Wikipedia still corroborates this). Arizona seemed like a really random target at the time, and it didn't make sense why it would be targeted. Sadly, I cannot find it anymore, but I read a chatlog or an interview with somebody afterwards that clarified it. It was not a targeted attack; some of the Anonymous hackers happened to find a less-than-secure system in Arizona, hacked it, and then came up with some bogus rationale about anti-immigration laws after the fact. While some of these attacks seem to be actually organized and targeted, it looks like a number of them are just random hacks that people do just because they can, and then they rationalize why they did it afterward, while taking credit. The media seems to eat this shit up and will dutifully report that Anonymous/LulzSec hacked Arizona computers to protest anti-immigration laws. It's a good gig. I'm going to go around looking for unlocked cars, stealing stuff out of them, and then claim that everyone I steal from is a huge asshole and that's why I targeted them specifically. FOCUS: What's the worst/most hilarious/most obvious rationalization that you or someone you know has committed? Did anyone believe you/them?
I had a former military wife tell me, "So, my husband deployed and wasn't calling or writing me very often. And then I found out that he added his ex-girlfriend on Facebook! So I cheated on him." I was drunk, so I didn't even try to get her to explain her thought process. I just walked off. Later several of my friends ran a train on her. At least she wasn't married anymore.
It's not the fatties fault they're fat, it's big pharma and big agra that force them into bad habits.
"Officer Pink, you told me I was behind on my restitution, and I had no money, so, I had to steal that watch. I was afraid you'd revoke me and I'd be locked up." This was in a letter I got after one of my probies got arrested for new felony shoplifting charges. This is also the letter that got him a five year prison sentence thanks to that little confession. Thirty days for failing to pay restitution or five years for a new felony. Mensa member, that one.
After I got punched in the face by a girl I broke up with simply because she saw reality in a way that was not real. "Thanks for that, I really needed that." Fuck is that even a justification?