Cyprus under mosquito attack

Cyprus Updates reports that the island is under mosquito attack:

The recent flood of mosquitoes in Cyprus has alerted the local authorities. The sudden increase in temperature and atmospheric humidity has favoured the reproduction of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes apart from being a nuisance can also be carriers of dangerous diseases therefore the Health Services have already started spraying affected public areas. They are also recommending that people take measures to prevent mosquito bites and stop their rapid reproduction. These include repair of water reservoirs and drainage inlet covers, cleaning of waste bins, and introduction of net on windows.

On one hand, it’s nice to that authorities are on top of the situation and are actually doing something about it.  On the other, in the minds of local people, things like “they are also recommending that people take measures…” often sounds like “they are also recommending that people other than myself take measures…”.

Cyprus Hack Day

I got a message today via an almost non-existing mailing list of Cyprus LUG (Linux User Group) about the following event (please forgive my reformatting, translation, and interpretation):

Event: Cyprus Hack Day
Date: Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
Time: 16:30
Location: University of Nicosia (used to be known as Nicosia campus of Intercollege)
Price: Free
Registration: Online, via Cyprus Computer Society website.
Agenda:

  • Presentation “Chaos in the cloud” by Dr Mike Chung, KPMG Netherlands
  • Presentation “The emperor has no clothes: Remote Access Trojans (RAT) – A Unique Danger” by Andreas Constantinides and Angelos Printezis, Odyssey Consultants Ltd.
  • Demonstration “Hack-Jutsu 101” by Demetris Papapetrou, Information security researcher.

Organizers: