Saturday, April 29, 2006

Ottawa Boy

"A defect in the abdomen wall"

What exactly is a "defect" ?

A weakness. I'm a fat bastard. If they cut open my belly (abdomen in medical terms) it will come gushing out , make a big defect ,and when they put it all back together then , it will not be as strong as before. There will be this "defect" showing. Please lose weight , make my life easier, says my surgeon.

Aha.

I barely eat as it is. Two meals a day. don't go to restaurants because a trip to a restaurant generally means I'mg going back to the hostpital ( I have Chrones Disease... anything irritates my belly , I'm hospital bound)

I lift up my t-shirt. I look down. I have two bags, Shcomata bags , or some such. Basically the kind where your intestines have been cut lose from your "anus" and stuck in a hole in your belly , and you now "excrete fecal matter " (shit) through the hole.

Only no one ever cut lose my my intestines. I have "fistula's" , holes my body makes all by itself. Thus why there is two instead of just one that a surgeon would make.

I look down and there are two bags on my belly. And yes, i also still go to the bathroom and dump "fecal matter" as per a normal man would do this.

I'm on predinzone , in 5 years this will give most people a lethal case of Ostrioperosis, (weak bones, all the bone cells die off you break your bones at the drop of a hat and you die quickly from having every bone in your body broken) , so I have to have this operation.

Ok.

I'm a fat bastard and I'm going to have a "defect" in my belly.

So... what exactly does this mean ?

I'm going to be a troll. A fat ugly man with a big scar in his belly , most of his lower intestines missing , crapping into a bag on my belly instead of out my rear end ...
Oh yes. And this is only to stop this bout of Chrones disease, you do understand there is no cure , we may have to come back and cut out some more of your intestine ? Do this all over again ?

"Oh I'm sorry , but the summer surgery schedule isn't out yet. Please call back in two weeks and we'll see if we can schedule your operation then. yes, feel free to call back an check on that in mid may ..."

Welcome to my nightmare.

Friday, April 28, 2006

(Empires Fall) More Mail Encryption

Article


There's an excellent extension for Thunderbird, called Enigmail.

It allows you to send and receive public-key encrypted messages from within Thunderbird.

..

Concerned about NSA wiretapping? Install this and use it. It'll most likely make...


Yeah , right !

I used to work at a (name not disclosed) security company up here in canada. They debated for a long time trying to get into the US market writing encryption software , but eventualy decided not to do it. Why ? Because the FBI wanted them to put in a back door to any encryption such that they could instantly break the code and read the messages . Don't do that , and you're not allowed to sell your product in the usa.

It doesn't take much to imagine that every off the shelf "encryption" package of any kind in the US has a similar back door.

If you want encryption write it yourself. Otherwise you're only one you're deluding.

N.S. educator proposes all-black school

Article


A black educator in Halifax suggests a school exclusively for black students will help them thrive.

Wade Smith, vice-principal at St. Patrick's High School, said the education system is failing black students.

"Putting forward the notion of a black school is something that people might not be comfortable with because it suggests that things aren't working. Then I think you have to look at the possibility of a black school as something positive, that's good for our culture and good for our people," he said.


This is an AMAZINGLY bad idea.

Why ?

It was tried in the USA. The black schools got inferior funding , inferior everything , they became quickly a ghetto to get rid of unwanted students.

Seperating out students for any reason is just asking for trouble. Put them in the same schools and partake of the same resorces is the only way to go.

Just an opinion , just an opinion.

Self Sinker Sunk

Article

Fire-damaged sub won't be operational until 2012

Ah yes, The Chicoutimi , the amazing canadian self sinking submarine. It apears to be sunk for another six years. Money well spent by our government.


The Department of National Defence announced Friday that repairs to Chicoutimi will be delayed for another four years so that the money that would have gone into repairs can be spent elsewhere, including on two of Canada's other submarines.

"This will improve our ability to get Victoria and Corner Brook back into service and better position the navy to have two boats fully operational in 2009," the navy said.

The decision means the Chicoutimi won't be operational until 2012, compared to a previously announced launch date of September 2007.

Ah ha. Do we get our money back from the brits for this pile of junk ? Why do I hear a resounding "NO !" echoing from sea to sea ?


Only one of Canada's four submarines, HMCS Windsor, is now able to go to sea. Sister ships HMCS Corner Brook and HMCS Victoria have been out of service for several years.


Oh good move. We got four sub's , only one of which works. Money well spent all right !


You want my opinion ? You do what they did in yugoslovia before that country broke apart. You put up factories all over the country to make pieces of subs, and you put them together to make the final product, our own made in canada brand new sub. Think of it. Unlimited spare parts, redesign anytime you like , repairs obviously not a problem we built it we fix it.

We've tried second hand subs from elsewhere. Cost a fortune and dont work. We should try this. Even if it sinks (ha ha ) we get a few canadian jobs out of it.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

New Arab search engine to challenge Google

Article


"If you look at the international search engines, their functionality is non-existent. This market really lacks the support of an Arabic search engine," he said.

...

Sawafi is hoping to copy the success of local Chinese language search engine Baidu, which has made huge strides in a market with over 100 million Web surfers.


The "success" of the Chinese language search is relative. Why ? Because China has heavy censorship.

I can see it now. An arabic search engine, pulling up only anti-jewish hate sites , articles on the Protocols of Zion , Hadiths of the Prophet (the hadiths are basically fake sayings attributed to Islam cobbled together by every dictator and religious fanatic to support their personal opinion ) .. essencially becomeing a massive propoganda tool.

Yup yup...time for the USA to start engaging in a few denial of service attacks when that starts up !

I can see the "cyberwar" beginning already ... I really can.

Iran 'will harm U.S. interests if attacked'

Article

This reminds me of something very interesting. I was watching the TV while eating breakfast ( I only watch the news) and one of the announcers while talking with a guest said that "everyone knows Bin Laden is in Iran being protected by the Iranians". Actually I hadn't heard of this before.

And it didn't show up on any news sites either. Almost like they didn't want anyone to know , presumably to avoid aggrivating the Iranians anymore than they had to.

Now we add together this little charming fact and what do we get ? Iran is behind most of the anti-american terrorism.

But more than that , the terrorism is already going pretty much as strong as it can go. Which actually makes this threat rather empty. They're already doing the best they can , they've already got the volume cranked up to max , so to speak. And you can't turn it up any louder than max. What are you going to do ? Have your pet Bin Laden issue a few more tapes ? maybe blow up another hotel someone in the middle east because you can't actually get to the US the defences are too tough (you've been trying for a number of years now and failing)

Against this, there is the threat of Iran developping nukes.

Yeah , right. That nuke factory is going to get bombed to a fair thee well and the only people going to suffer radiation poisoning are the rag heads who built it in the first place. And if those religious air heads think otherwise they've been rolling their sacred scrolls and smoking them too much !

But of course , they are religous air heads, and far more interested in what their holy Koran is saying than the fact that cnn routinely now publishes ariel photo's of the nuke plant as a subtle hint by the US , as if saying "We know exactly where to drop our bombs...better cool it".

It's almost like watching a damb slowly breaking. You know the Iranians are not going to listen , not going to change the path their on. And you know they're going to get that place bombed, and you know that their reaction is going to launch a few terrorist attacks. Everyone knows. But there's no stopping it.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Empires Fall

Gotta check my email more often.

new blog wants to link to mine. Writing style is ok , no profanity so I'll do it.

Seems to be as anti-iraq as I am pro iraq though. Well...different opinions make the world go around , what can i say ?

5% Solution

Saw the doctor today.

Apparently I'm in pretty good health , good enough that they're finally ready to operate. Operate several times it seems what they want to do to my belly isn't going to be done in a single operation.

I asked him two questions.

1. What choice do I have ? Whats the alternative ?
A. Do nothing and continue on as you are now.
- not good. I'm on predizone. You can stay on it for a while , but 5 years and you got ostrioperosis (weak bones, they break at the drop of a hat) and that's fatal.

2. What are my odds of survival.
a. 95%

So a 5% chance I bite the big one and don't have to worry about it ? Like , hello , do I have a choice here ?

I call this one the 5% solution.

Bloated Ad Pages

Ok, I was reading this news article on how martha stewarts stock was doing well, and there was this annoying flashing at the corner of my eye. I look down and what do I see ?

A full color animated movie trying to sell houses.

Hello ? I'm reading a TEXT article ? Simple words on a page, and there's a movie playing off to the side to try and sell me junk ?

I pay for my internet connection , I don't get it for free. And being forced to by faster and faster speed (for more and more money) because some yammer head wants to place MOVIES on every other web page to try and sell me stuff while all I want to do is read the news, is just plain stupid !

Come on ! Surely this qualifies as robbery of some kind ? They're using what , 5% of the connection to show me some text and 95% to show advertising movies ?

Thats not right. Somethings messed up there.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Merchants fume at high tobacco taxes and insurance rates

Article


Korean small-business owners rallied outside Ontario's legislature on Tuesday, demanding that the government listen to their concerns about provincial tobacco policies and other issues.


McGuinty says cigarette sales across the province are down 10 per cent since the Liberals took power in 2003.
The Ontario Korean Businessmen's Association, which organized the demonstration and represents more than 3,000 convenience stores across the province, said many of its members face having to close shop because of increasing cigarette thefts and soaring hydro rates. The association blamed the rise in cigarette thefts on higher tobacco taxes, and noted such crimes in turn force up their insurance rates


Ummm...yeah. Ok.

Cigarettes are BAD , ok ? They kill you with lung cancer. Only the tobacco companies think otherwise, no one else.

If Cigerrets are unprofitable, I suggest you stop selling them ! That will solve that problem real quick ! And a number of others (like people dying from first and second hand smoke)

As for the usual argument that the other guy does and if I dont' sell this stuff everyone will go to his store... well... let them. If he's losing money on cig's , the more customers buying the more he loses. Stick with bread and milk. Most people send their kid to pick up that stuff anyways.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Victory over the Evil Parasite McAfee

It's now April 10th , 7 days since I removed the McAfee files from my computer. In the last 7 days I have seen no McAfee pop ups demanding up dates, have your credit card ready , etc.

I delcare the Evil McAfee Parasite vanquished.

I also declare it a parasite, since it should in no wise be this difficult to get rid of a legitimate program. You should just go to add-remove programs, hit uninstall , and it's gone. This business about playing with the Msconfig utility to turn things off, and even that has been sabataged to turn it right back on again ... that kind of dirty underhanded stunt is what you expect from a virus program, not an anti-virus program.

McAfee is Learning too much from the enemey , becoming too much like the enemey. I can only advise you stay away from it. It has been "corrupted" at the most basic of levels. The corperation that creates it has adopted the very methodology of the virus writers they puport to fight, and do not realize they have stepped over the line and joined the ranks of those virus writers.

more than an opinion this time.
It's a fact.

Ontario's future dark without coal-fired plants

Article


Hydro rates will climb significantly and job losses will follow if the provincial government proceeds with plans to shut down Ontario's coal-fired plants, says a lobby group for major power consumers.

"Under the current plan, electricity prices are going to rise by $3 billion a year and an average of 25 per cent per year," said Adam White, the head of the Association of Major Power Consumers, which released its report on Monday.

The Liberals plan to phase out coal-burning plants by 2009 and replace them with cleaner energy sources.


no no no ! Don't phase out those dirty stinky polluting coal fire plants ! ignore the fact that we're running out of coal and there is no "new coal" being created and you'll have to replace them eventually , getting rid of them will cost us money !!!!


The association says that plan would cost 100,000 jobs in industries such as pulp and paper, nickel and steel, while Ontario's real gross domestic product could drop by as much as $16 billion.


1.. how is pulp, paper , nickel and steel related to coal production ? Why would they drop ?

2.. Pulp, paper nickel , and steel are some of the heaviest polluting industries in ontario. I should think a drop in them would be a good thing. More clean air to breath and all that.

3.. pollution is a bad thing. Go to Los Angeles on a bad day , stand on a street corner, and just try to breath. Not being able to breath is definately a bad thing.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Tribunal dismisses eviction for blog comments

Article


A Kingston woman can't be evicted from her apartment for comments she posted about her landlord on her blog, a tribunal ruled Tuesday.


Hrray ! A victory for free speach !


The Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal dismissed the eviction order, saying Homestead failed to prove the accusations posted on the blog were unfounded.



thats not much of a victory ! So what your'e saying is that if the comments had proved to be unfounded they could successfully evict her ?

Hmmm.... Actually , thats not that bad a deal. If you slander your land lord they can boot you....

Unfortuantely doesn't work on jobs. most jobs can fire you any time they like , just make up a reason , or the position has become redundant or some such.

ah well. When you go public , I guess you better be able to back up your words.

Monday, April 03, 2006

The McAfee Adventure Continues

The McAfee update agent keeps popping up with a "critical update" . hah ! To a program I'm trying hard to get rid of !
A check on various online forums indicates that getting rid of McAfee is a nightmare, there are three hundred registry entries you have to get rid of , and you have to do it by hand there is no automated tool. (nice to know I'm not the only one having issues).

Hah ! But I got around it. (I think... it looks good so far).
msconfig / Start up , remove the checks from the stuff in the mcafee folders. Reboot... odd, check marks come right back. Do as it suggest press general and do a normal start up , and ALL the check marks for every mcaffee and other program I wanted to ditch comes back !
But I got it's number now. Msconfig is my guide. It actually gives the exact location of the files it's running on start up.
Write them down , go to the mcafee folders , and DELETE those files !
Ah... blessed silence. At least so far.
We'll see how this latest action on the Mcafee battle front goes.... let you know in a few days.