_*USING EINSTEIN TO TAKE DOWN A RICH GAMER:*_ This kind of
   #hacking *is* wicked - but at the same time... the wicked side
   of me gives credit for the cleverness of these hackers. Why?

   They exploited something we NEVER usually think about: #time

   Did you know that we only #pretend that things happen at the
   same time?

   Yup.

   See: #Einstein We're just pretending to have #synchronicity

   Two things *can't* happen at the same time; the time things
   happen all depends how you look at it. It's a basic #truth of
   the Universe, as far as we know it.

   So: How do we get things like multiplayer games working
   smoothly?

   Tricks. Very tricky tricks. Humans are slow compared to
   computers, so if we *almost* make things happen at the same time
   (say, nanoseconds apart - even milliseconds, although gamers are
   getting more aware of millisecond lag - human #evolution in a
   sense - except gamers often don't have kids to extend their
   capabilities into the #future but there will always be better
   games to continue the skillset - anyway...), we generally won't
   notice.

   Anyway, for us to PRETEND that things are happening at the same
   time, we have to get the #clocks on all of the computers in a
   network - say... a big one like the Internet... all more or less
   running at a CLOSE ENOUGH time: similar enough so that a gamer
   in Florida playing on a server in Finland WON'T NOTICE any #lag

   BUT: What these clever hackers are doing is messing with #ntp -
   _Network Time Protocol_

   It's been used for over 30 years; almost nobody - not even
   security people really pay attention to it. Just the volunteers
   at the Network Time Foundation really pay attention to it. Big
   web servers and Internet providers often *don't* pay attention
   to it... allowing hackers to mess with the clocks in great
   floods, milliseconds apart, creating lag in the systems that TRY
   to fake the idea that things are happening simultaneously.

   The gamer, who perhaps makes thousands and thousands of dollars
   through advertising revenue while doing his professional gaming
   cast... can't play right. Might even lose connection.
   Advertisers go ''well, WE just wasted our many thousands of
   dollars, showing our ads to NOBODY - since NOBODY is going to
   watch a BROKEN game''... and BOOM, they lose their sponsership
   because the millions of kids, teens and adults that the
   advertisers expected to be watching, aren't.

   All.. because... these guys messed... with... Time.

   Of course some ISPs and server hosts are putting up security
   features - simple ones that were already built into the system
   but again, this protocol is *so ancient* and people take the
   idea of #SYNCHRONICITY for granted, we humans don't think it's
   even possible to mess with Time.

   But #time is an #illusion

   it exists - it's real.. but it's different for EVERYBODY - even
   computers.

   We only fake the idea that things could happen at the same time.
   They can't. They don't. And when someone is clever enough to
   realize that... and is bored - or hates a particular gamer and
   wants to take him down.. here's an easy way.

   Now you know.

   -Kenneth Udut

   Honestly more impressed by the hackers because, well, there's no
   reason for doors to be left open for 30 years; the Early
   Internet was full of #trust and I still believe in it; but if
   they wanna get #money involved... well, people with money (like
   advertisers) are fickle and run away at the first sign that
   something isn't perfect.... like a video feed of an unplayable
   laggy game whose illusion of synchronicity is being messed
   around with... :P