Wow...do people really think that way ?

Canadians come under fire near Gaza Strip
Article.

Not the article itself , one of the comments left by a visitor..5th one down when I was there.


cbc is under the influence of neo-con traitors ...

Um...whats a neo-con ? Neo Conservative ? New Conservative ?

And traiter. What are they betraying again ? Certainly not Canada.

...and is the mouth piece for the global agenda.

Global Agenda ? What Global Agenda ?

this is a promotional video to help us understand the 'difficulties' in this region. where's the united nations to step in and quit the slaughter of innocent civilians and bring justice and peace to this war torn region.

I believe they're having trouble right now with a bunch of arab states blocking any move to stop the violence , and constantly generating "Lets Kill All The Jews" motions for everyone to vote down.

elitism at its best. i believe nothing the cbc prints anymore because they are lapdogs to yankee imperialism.

Umm...I lifted this from a cbc site...they printed your blathering ,didn't they ?

your all traitors and this promo feed newstory should be left on pay per view for those brainwashed seniors that allowed this type of society to exist in the first place.

Brainwashed seniors...ahh...you blame your elders for the current situation ? Actually that kind of makes sense, much as the current crop of adults is making a mess in the name of just trying to hold down a job. Yeah , we should know better than to make the mess we are to the environment , but we gotta pay the bills right ?

canada had honor once. dion! i don't wanna die in a low income housing for seniors in parksville! save us dion from this conservative nightmare! bring on the vote before its too late!


Umm...I'm guessing you are a senior, and you disagree with your contemporaries. You old coot ! Lol ! I'm gonna guess the old coot is a die hard liberal.

Still wondering about that global agenda. The only one I see is the "lets not let them convert us all to Islam" agenda. Which is hard to disagree with.

Bell Canada takes heat from clients for limiting online speed

Article


"Most people are doing online banking, watching YouTube videos, the basic services. We want to offer them the best service possible," spokesperson Jacques Bouchard said.


Yeah , what he said !


Pat Hurley, an analyst at research firm TeleChoice, said five to 10 per cent of Internet users take up most of the bandwidth as they download high definition movies and play games online.


Yeah ..you see .... what was that he said ? Play games online ?

yer toast.

If I can't play my online games. Your service is *USELESS* to me.

Remind me never to go to bell.

Well... maybe that doesn't count. TeleChoice isn't bell is it ? But still...I aint switching until I hear from bell about online gaming.

Oh, got a nice letter from Rogers Cable Internet.
Apparently I have a 60GByte limit, and if I go over it it's like two bucks a gig there after. They also sent me a nice graph showing my usage for the last three months. The first two months my usage was barely a sliver on the left edge, just enough to say I turned the machine on every now and then. The third month it was 8 gigabytes.

Makes me a tad curious about what my wife has been doing when I'm not around since I set up that guest computer in the living room, but 8 gigs is so far below the limit I'm not gonna panic. I did let her know we have a 60 gig limit and she used 8 though ...just to keep her up to date and make sure this doesn't spin out of control.

But lets face it.8 gigs is quite a party. You'd have to go hog wild to do 60.

Now ...start blocking online gaming ... now I'm ticked.

Activate Mind Control Technology ! You *WILL* Buy Our Product !

Is the Ad a Success? The Brain Waves Tell All

The ardor of the ad business to adopt the technical tools of biometrics — measuring brain waves, galvanic skin response, eye movements, pulse rates and the like — is increasing...

And who hires these ad agencies ? I'll tell you who. Anyone with some piece of absolute junk that is worth pretty much nothing who wants to sell it anyways, thats who hires them. The more junkie and worthless the product ...the bigger the advertisement budget.


“Instead of hypotheses about what people think and feel, you actually see what they think and feel,” said Joel Kades, vice president for strategic planning and consumer insight at Virgin Mobile USA in Warren, N.J.

“I’m not such a huge fan of ad testing,” he added, but measuring biological responses is “absolutely useful.”


Yah know...that whole science thingy about try it out and measure the results, see what works and doesn't work ? I think we should apply that to fast talking people into buying our junk ! yeah ... I think thats a great idea.


“We measure attention, second by second; how emotionally engaged you are with what you’re watching, whether it’s a commercial, a movie or a TV show; and memory retention,” said A. K. Pradeep, chief executive at NeuroFocus in Berkeley, Calif.


Ah yes, memory retention. Let me just stuff the name of our product in your head so you can't possibly forget it ! Whether that product has any value or not is totally irrelevant. All that matters is ...the manufacturers advertising checks don't bounce. :)


“The role of neuromarketing is to understand how people feel and react,” Ms. Moses said. “It in no way sets out to meddle with normal, natural response mechanisms.”


Nope. You're not trying to alter those responses, that would be a mess ! You're just trying to make a map of them so you can navigate through them and accomplish your goals.


“We’re not trying to predict an individual’s thoughts and actions and we’re not trying to input messages,” Dr. Knight said.


Um...you just said you were. Memory retention , right ? Already mentioned as one of the goals earlier in the article. If you're gonna lie, at least try not to be blindingly stupid about it.

Oh my goodness, this product is completely worthless ! Activate Mind Control Technology on Maximum ! This is gonna be a tough one ! But the client is paying well so lets buckle down and get too it people !

There's No Fish Left !

New Bell Canada scandal looms


New Bell Canada scandal looms

p2pnet news | P2P:- Canada’s largest ISP, Bell Canada, is powering ahead with its traffic shaping ‘traffic management’ plan.

I remember long ago on TV, newfoundland residents were protesting restrictions on fishing, and one old coot went up to the member of parliment and demanded he be allowed to fish any time he liked, his family had been there for generations etc etc. The MP responded "There's No Fish Left ! I can't put the fish back ! What do you want me to do ? There's no fish !" Which got him attacked by the old coot who was uncerimoniously dragged off by security.

30 gigabytes , or more, a month, is a *HUGE* amount of data. You can play online games and watch youtube.com and leave it playing all day and all night and you still won't touch 30 gigs. (30 gigs is the current cap bell is imposing in this news article by the way).

The only people affected by this limit are the people moving DVD's over the internet. A dvd is like 6 gigs of space, you can therefore do 5 of them in a month. If you're illicitly trading DVD's , this is a major restriction on your activities, and I can see how you'd be upset. But I cannot sympathize with you , I think you got caught and it looks good on you ! :) And 40% of all internet traffic currently is DVD's being traded ? You guys are ratcheting up my bill ! I just went from being indifferent to your cause , to now being hostile to it.

You're costing me money !

There's only so much bandwidth to go around people.

There's No Fish Left ! I can't put the fish back ! What do you want me to do ? There's no fish !

Foreclosures Fairs

Desperate turn to foreclosures fairs


The fair kicked off a series of events planned in March, or what local politicians have dubbed "Foreclosure Prevention Month," around the northern San Joaquin Valley as well as cities from Florida to Chicago and places west. The world's most fertile farm region, the San Joaquin Valley includes three metro areas -- Stockton, Modesto and Merced -- with some of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.


Isn't that nice, these people are gonna get help with their morgages.


More and more family friendly foreclosure fairs, where mortgage lenders and counselors offer advice to desperate homeowners, ...


I've been to a bank workshop with my girlfriend who was facing bankruptcy, which is just like a forclosure fair. Do you know what they told her ? They told her cut back on her expenses, borrow from her friends and boyfriends (me ! ) work a few extra shifts and pay back her loans. Pay THEM back first , and all the other people she owes money to some time later. The whole thing was little more than a "pay US and TO HECK WITH EVERYONE ELSE mind job."


In San Francisco recently, fairgoers and officials complained that lenders have, for the most part, rejected pleas to help negotiate loans or forestall foreclosure with a payment agreement.

Yep. Come to our fair so we can tell you to PONY UP THE CASH YOU DEAD BEAT BUMS !!!!


One couple said the same broker who had written their loan in 2005 promising he would help them refinance it to a 30-year fixed rate when the teaser rate of two percent expired refused to take their calls. Their mortgage on a $300,000 house mushroomed from about $900 to over $2,000.

DO YOU HEAR US CARING ? HEAR THAT SILENCE ? THATS US CARING ..PAY UP !!!

Lemme give you home owners a piece of advice.
Declare bankruptcy, don't give these dogs a dime, and walk away.
They robbed you. they made this mess, now they're trying to make you clean it up. They're trying to brutally squeeze you for money you don't have. 2000$ a month ? Kiss it goodbye.

Random Iraqi Road Traffic Fatalities

FBI: Bodies of kidnapped U.S. contractors found


Of the 4,000 U.S. military personnel killed in the war, 3,263 have died in attacks and fighting and 737 in nonhostile incidents, such as traffic accidents and suicides. Eight of those killed were civilians working for the Pentagon. The numbers are based on Pentagon data counted by CNN.


32 hundred in combat, 7 hundred in traffic accidents. Hmmm... so the enemey battle toll is only 3 and a half times as large as the toll from random traffic accidents in Bagdad ?

4000 casualties in 7 years = 571 , divide by 150 000 troops at any one time ... casualty rate of one third of one percent per year. Oops, they're only there for 6 months , so half that. One sixth.

If you are an american soldier in Iraq on a 6 month tour, you have 1 chance in 600 of dying. And 18% of those casualties are traffic accidents not enemey activity.

Hang your head in shame , Al Queda !!! You're just not trying !

lol ... This isn't a war , its a quiet walk to the zoo and having to cross a couple of busy streets along the way. No more dangerous than that.

This is the boogie man of our times.

Boo !

Frightenned yet ?

Bin Laden: Pope Helps Anti-Islam Crusade

article


CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Osama bin Laden accused Pope Benedict XVI of helping in a "new Crusade" against Islam and warned of a "severe" reaction to European publications of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that insulted many Muslims.


Not seeing too many dead muslims here, except those killed by other muslims of course. and the two conquered muslim nations (Iraq, Afghanistan) remain firmly muslim , no attempt to convert them to christianity is occuring.

IE: you lied. Oh , and it's your own people murdering your muslim civilians. Chalk up murder to the list of your crimes too. Murderer of the Muslim People.


"You went overboard in your unbelief and freed yourselves of the etiquettes of dispute and fighting and went to the extent of publishing these insulting drawings," he said. "This is the greater and more serious tragedy, and reckoning for it will be more severe."


There is no "etiquette" of dispute. You think everyone in the world is subject to muslim law and you're going to try and kill those who break it. There is no "discussion" or "dispute" in your eyes. There is only murder and assassination.

Good luck finding a doctor , old man. I know from personal experiance how old folks like us tend to get sick easy and must live their life around how close you are to the hospital. Even if the americans never find you , you're not going to make it.

China's premier blames Dalai Lama 'clique' for violence in Tibet

Article


BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday blamed supporters of the Dalai Lama for recent violence in Tibet, and said Chinese forces exercised restraint in confronting unrest there.

Translation: The Leader of a Communistic Dictatorship reports that the people he's crushing are responsible for the violence in that state. And that they have exercised restraint, as demonstrated by the fact that there's still a few Tibetians left alive.


"There are 13 common people who died in the beating, burning and smashing in the riots," said Champa Phuntsok, the head of Tibet's regional government.


The only tibetians who died died at the hands of their own people. We are totally innocent of any Tiamen style massacures. PS. Tiamen never happened, that's a western lie.


In a news conference in Beijing on Monday, Champa Phuntsok blamed the violence on "a small group of separatists and criminals" who take their lead from exiled followers of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

On Sunday, the exiled Dalai Lama condemned China's action in his homeland, accusing Beijing of "cultural genocide."


...reports the occupying chinese govener of a conquered and ruthlessly surpressed nation.


Spence Palermo, a American who was filming a documentary at the monastery, said Chinese officials banned his crew from returning to the monastery Friday. They were suddenly rushed from their hotel Saturday as a "seemingly endless convoy" of Chinese troops headed toward the monastery, he said.


"We'll let you know whatever we think you need to know." said the chinese official , kicking out all westerners. "And stop talking about that fictional Tiamenn square event ... it never happened !"

I'll have a bit of Wine with my Linux , please.

The living room computer is a Linux machine. It works well , it doesn't catch virii or trojens, it's very low maintenance. Doesn't run windows programs at all , which I don't miss. Except for games. Which I do miss.

How can you miss microsofts 600$ office suite when Linux gives you a free one that does all the basic tasks. True , it's not too hot onthe advanced stuff, but for just basic pounding out memo's and working on your novel and a simple address book it's great. And the spreadsheet is far more capable than most people suspect. Well..most spread sheets are, most people only know the command to add up a column of figures and don't really know it can do more than that.

My sister has some kind of custom program that needs windows xp , and I know Wine will run xp programs, I've read about it , so I installed Wine on my computer today.

Wine is a Linux "Emulator", that is to say , it lies to the program thats running and says "You're on a windows machine ! Trust me ! Would I lie to you ?"

Locate an old game cd...hmmm... Warcraft II , BNE (battle net edition). Throw the cd in. Use the Winebrowser to find the setup program on the disk (called, creatively enough, setup.exe) double click on it.

The screen flickers. The speakers blast game music. The standard windows install screen apears before me. Wow. Press install. And it goes through it , thinking it's on a windows machine and it's happy as a clam.

Acid test time. Do you want to start Warcraft ? You bet your Bill Gates Stocks I do ! Click yes, and teh screen goes dark. The intro movie plays. Ok, the movie player doesn't know its under Linux thats nice. The screen goes dark. The game music plays. The screen stays dark.

I begin to swear.

Then the screen lights up. The beginning screen of the game. There it is ... it was just a little slow. Emulators are notorious for that , I should have more patience. Start a game. Pick human side. Play the game all the way through , and save it , and close the program gracefully.

Wow , did I used to be addicted to this ? How many years ago ?

It ran without problems.

I was unable to make a short cut on the linux desk top to just click and start, but you can use the winebrowser to find the start program and play it that way, tried it and it started up again.

Conclusions :

I can run windows programs under linux. The average user cannot. There is no ease of use. Not until I figure out how to get linux short cuts going. If I can do that and render it to the point where a user can just click and the program goes, then it's for the average user. Otherwise, some technical ability (the ability to browse to the directory and find the start program for that application ) is required.

Phone Woes II

There's a dollar store where I work. they sell tonnes of junk, and some of it , is real *JUNK* . But there were these wooden boxes, perfect for stashing papers in , and they were only a buck for one of them. Bought it a while back , stuck all my phone papers and rent receipts in it.

My phone wont' charge, and I have fridays off of work (but I have to work saturday). Located the box, got the recipte for the phone , took it out and stuffed it in my pocket. Wasn't just the receipt, was teh whole contract and the girls business card who sold me the phone and everything. Got the damaged phone that won't charge , and hopped on a bus and went to St. Laurent where I bought the phone, not too far from home.

It's probably the charger, I told her. The head phones were working fine, I played tunes until teh battery died, and there's a sort of universal jack that the head phones and the power charger plug into. Figured if the head phoens worked it was likely the charger , probably nothing wrong with the jack.

They get another charger off the wall , apparently they have tonnes in stock. Try it out. No dice. Phone doesn't lite up. Oopsie...guess it is the handset after all.

They play on the computer , takes two of them one to tell the other what to do (he's just learning) and one to teach. Sounds like a labor of herculese just to put in a simple repair request and hook up a loaner phone.

Loaner phone is in the bedroom charging as we speak. 4 - 6 weeks before I get my real phone back.

Eh. I have an mp3 player that does a better job than the phone ever did. And 37$ + tax a month isn't that bad. When my real phone eventually bites the dust and insurance decides it doesn't like me anymore , I'll probably just go out and get the cheapest scuzziest phone I can find and put it on the line to replace it.

My advice ?

This adventure in expensive phones has done little but waste my time and money. You want an mp3 player ? go get one. Don't get a music phone. You want a PDA ? Get a stand alone pda , don't get a phone PDA. Blow the money bribing some high school student or craftsman to craft you a custom leather case to carry them both (or all) at once, rather than seek an all in one device. The all in one device only barely functions , just enough to say IT'S A MUSIC PHONE ! BUY ME BUY ME BUY ME YOU'LL LOVE IT !" No you wont.

like dealing with a shady business man , they technically fulfill the contract , but only in the most irritating and minimal manner possible.

It's Just Business as Usual , in the USA

White House Offers Plan to Ward Off Credit Crises


The plan, which relies primarily on state regulators and private industry to tighten their oversight of financial markets, calls on states to issue nationwide licensing standards for mortgage brokers.


Yeah , we took those suckers for a ride, didn't we , and let me tell you how we did it too , it was so easy it was criminal !

We're morgage brokers ! What does that mean ? Broker = salesman. But we aint selling our product. We're selling someone elses, we're the broker not the producer.

In this case we're lending SOMEONE ELSES money to you, and the more we lend , the bigger the cut we get. And you know , those paper pushing managers only get to keep their jobs for a year or two, one bad downturn and they're out , and they know it. So when we tell them "if you loosen the rules just a bit we could sell more morgages, and bigger ones and no one will ever catch us until two years later ..." they jump at the opportunity ! 'Cause in two years they won't be there anymore , they'll have moved on and someone else will take the heat for the fall.

And so , we lend SOMEONE ELSES MONEY to you , with outrages terms, but terms that don't kick in for two years, your protected for the first two years , and we make a killing on commisions. And the managers who went along with the gag , got to look good for their quarterly reports , which are issued every three months, so they got several good quarterly reports out of us , got a raise and a promotion and everything !

And then it fell apart, because the moment the "protection" clauses fell away and the consumer (that would be YOU ! by the way) had to pay the going rates, it was far too expensive, and so you defaulted on your homes.

But we morgage brokers kept our commisions.
And those managers that went along with the gag kept their promotions and their new jobs.
And those brand new wet behind the ears managers got the shaft nicely left for them by the previous crop of managers.


At the news conference, Mr. Paulson said growing market problems were caused by a series of factors, including mortgage brokers who pushed risky loans on homeowners, conflicts of interest at credit-rating agencies, bond underwriters that loosened standards, and financial institutions that failed to adequately grasp the riskiness of the instruments they were buying and selling.


Conflict of interests ..heh heh heh ..guess who was collecting from both sides ...


On Thursday, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, the two Democratic lawmakers who head Congressional committees that oversee markets, announced plans to provide billions of dollars to states to buy homes in foreclosure and encourage mortgage lenders to write down the value of mortgages in troubled areas.


And the government steps in to keep those loans from defaulting anyways. So we milk the govenrment instead of the the consumer. But since the government gets most of it's money from the consumer anyways ... we're just milking the consumer through a different path.

I love it ! Lets wait five years and do it again !

Phone Woes

Article = none, personal experiance

My phone is toast.
Won't charge. Dead battery. It's got some kind of propriatory universal jack that the headphone OR the charger OR the usb to my computer plugs into. And the headphones were working just fine before the battery died. And when I plugged it into the computer it rang it's little bell for the 10 or so seconds when the phone cranked up and shut down again , so it's being detected.

I think the charger is just toast, not the phone itself.

That kind of propriatory nonsense, and leaving me wondering just how much am I going to be paying for a crappy pair of headphones when these old ones die, is one of my complaints against the phone. The other being their refusal to shut off the internet or the XMS radio. Sometimes I feel like the phone is a pocket salesman , their salesman , in my pocket, to bleed money from me to them.

Oh , and they say if it's the phone they ship it away for 3-5 weeks , fix it ,and it comes back ,and by the way you're still on the hook for the monthly fees. I'm still on the hook, that is. For a phone I bought off them failing, I gotta pay for a month of service that I aint gonna get. "But it's your phone..." the guy told me. "I bought it off of you." yeah yeah .

But it's not my phone if I want to end the contract early. They want the difference between what I paid up front and the box price, they want 250$ if I end the contract early.

It's not my phone when I want to turn the internet off. "Our system can't handle that ! And it's 50$ a megabyte if you accidently activate the browser on your phone or somone gets a hold it ! You better buy our internet plan or you'll get in deep trouble !"

Ditto it's not my phone when I want this XMS radio thingy turned off. Don't know what thats gonna cost but I suspect it will be bad too.

It only seems to be my phone when it comes time to pay the bills. Not when it comes time to decide it shouldn't be *YOUR* salesman sitting in *MY* pocket.

Paying the $250 and getting out is looking real tempting. Maybe I should go back to a go phone.

(edit)
Attempts to look up the price of this xms radio , called Sirius radio, run into the simple problem that the FAQ's are not designed to answer your questions, they're designed to sell you junk. They're worthless for anything else.

It's 'buyer beware' going to Mexico

Article

Ms. Martin, 51, is a victim of a medieval judicial system, bureaucratic indifference and political lethargy. She has been in jail awaiting trial for two years and two months in Guadalajara -- for the first 18 months without any official contact from anyone at Canada's consulate in the city.

Her "crime" was that she worked as a chef for a convicted fraudster, Alyn Waage, who bilked investors worldwide out of about $60-million. He bribed his way out of Mexico


Hey ! I get calls like him all the time. Isn't he the guy that sends you an unsigned check that says "You have won 7,500$ call this number to collect" and then the fine print reads "$5.45US per minute", and when you call the guy doesn't speak english and keeps putting you on hold and drags it out forever until you hang up ?

How can you not know you're working for a fraudster ?


and is currently serving a 10-year sentence in an American prison. While in Waage's employ, Ms. Martin argued with her former boss and was given a one-year severance
package of $28,000. After re-investing this sum, she was charged by the Mexican authorities with money-laundering


Yep. That would be money laundering. In a country where 200$ is a months salary , how did you earn 28 thousand dollar without being in on it ?



and being part of a criminal conspiracy -- even though Waage has provided a sworn affidavit saying she is innocent.


"I swear ! She's totally innocent ! I gave my secratary the equivilant of 10 years pay ......hmmm... because I was BOFFING her ! Yes ..that was why ... now let her go !"

Umm... she's 51 , not 21. Not a credible story.
Severence pay is two weeks salary , even in the USA. Are you saying she was earning
728 000 a year ? In mexico ? You can find some mexican chick and boff her for a lot cheaper than that.

Your story holds no water. Too much money floating around and no good reason.
Yah both need to rot in jail for a good long time, if yah want my opinion.

Analysis: seminary attack highlights Jerusalem's vulnerability

Article


After weeks of empty rhetoric and very little active diplomacy, America’s peace efforts in the Middle East have now come to a crossroads.


There is no crossroads. This started in 1948 , and hasn't stopped. And isn't going to stop. After 60 years of "...come to a crossroads" , and "... this could be a new beginning..." and "... could this be the end of all the killing ?" , I'm just tired of the empty rhetoric.

Are these reporters reporting the news in a neutril fashion ? Or are they trying to shape the news ? The truth is the fighting has dragged on for 60 years and theres no sign of it stopping. Thats the truth.

And thats not what the news article says.
It's not what any of them have said for the last sixty years, as a matter of fact. But here we are , sixty years later.

Canada stuck in slow lane on ISP traffic shaping debate

Article


Last fall, The Associated Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that Comcast, the largest cable provider in the United States, was interfering with network traffic by engaging in traffic shaping. The practice -- largely undisclosed by the company -- resulted in reduced bandwidth for peer-to-peer file-sharing applications and delayed the delivery of some Internet content.


So. What is Traffic Shaping ?

Thats where Rogers Cable Internet , which rents space on the Yahoo mail servers rather than provide it's own mail servers, gives you really good speed to Yahoo , but really sucky speed to MSN.

Thats where Sympatico , a division of Bell Canada, whic rents space on the MSN network for it's mail servers rather than provide it's own , gives you really good speed to the MSN servers but really sucky speeds to Yahoo.

And so you decide , I'm gonna use Yahoo , because MSN is always so slow , it's rediculous ! Or I'm gonna use MSN , because Yahoo is so slow all the time , what a crappy search engine !

Oh , and they don't tell you they're doing this. They just let the competiter take the hit in public opinion for something they did. In other words, we get to back stab the competition , and blame it on the competition at the same time ! Wahoo ! Bonus !

And you the consumer, wind up in a little world of Rogers permitted only web sites, or Sympatico Permitted only web sites, and are denied access to everything else. And they don't tell you. You think you have access to all the world, but really. You don't.

Thats what Internet Traffic Shaping Is.

The Dungeon Master has Died.

Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons creator, dies


MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.


Rest in piece , Gary. You will be missed.

Iranian Leader, Visiting Iraq, Assails Bush

Article



BAGHDAD — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, arriving Sunday in Baghdad to begin what he declared a “new chapter” in relations between his country and Iraq, warned President Bush that America’s problems in the Middle East would worsen as long as he continued to accuse Iran of interfering in Iraq.


As opposed to the old chapter , where the Iranians and the American backed Saddam Hussain (heh heh heh ...I love how the old dicator was an american pawn) were openly at war trying to kill each other.


“I think that the level of trust is very high,” Mr. Maliki said. “And I say frankly that the position Iran has taken recently was very helpful in bringing back security and stability.”


Yes, and we won't discuss the part where the Iranians are sending in road side bombs that kill hundreds of Iraqi civilians ... or the part where the Iraqi President has survived numerous assassination attempts by fanatics whipped up by Iran , and equipped by them.


Mr. Ahmadinejad responded: “You can tell Mr. Bush that making accusations about others will increase the Americans’ problems in the region. They will have to accept the facts in the area. The Iraqi people do not like the Americans.”


Said the unelected dictator of a country where elections are an alien concept , who doesn't know , or care, about the opinions of his own people , let alone those of another nation , because he just shoots anyone who disagree's with him.

Palestinians Suspend Peace Talks With Israel Over Gaza Bloodshed

Article



The Palestinians have suspended peace negotiations with Israel in response to a deadly incursion into the Gaza Strip. More than 100 Palestinians, including many civilians, have been killed during the past two days.


Yeah , we don't want to talk about peace with those jews no more because they got ticked at us for constantly throwing rockets at them and killing their civilians ? So they came here and killed more than of our soldiers (some of them might have been civilians) , so we're not gonna talk peace with them no more.


We believe that the international community must help us in acquiring and getting a cessation of hostilities immediately," said Saeb Erekat.


We believe you gotta help convince the jews to stop attacking us. But we're going to keep on attacking them by the way , don't even think about trying to convince us to stop the rocket attacks on our hated enemey, thats just not a happening thing.


Palestinians called for revenge...


How dare those EVIL JEWS attempt to defend themselves ! How dare they !!! Thats despicable !!!!


U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives here later this week and will try to get the peace process back on track.


There is no peace process. There's a bunch of gangsters dressed up like Imans (priests) trying to use it to hide their crimes. And all the honest Imans got run out of town long , long ago.

Thousands of Jordanians hold anti-Israel march

Article

Ok. My sister read my articles on City of Heros, and reports she hates them and doesn't care about "Stupid Games".

All right...back to commentary on regular news articles.


AMMAN, March 2 (Reuters) - Crying for revenge with suicide attacks, thousands of Jordanians marched in the capital of the pro-U.S. kingdom on Sunday to protest against Israel's Gaza offensive that had killed more than 100 Palestinians.


We're really upset that these jews don't like us killing them off. So ... we think we should continue killing them off.

Ummm...yeah ... makes a lot of sense.


Defying government curbs on street marches, thousands have taken to the streets inside many of Jordan's squalid camps and poor districts of the capital under the watchful eyes of the authorities to show solidarity with their brethren.


Defying government curbs on street marches , in a country where they pick you up and execute you just for the fun of it, or you didn't pay enough bribes to the police or what not... can you say "government backed demonstration" ?


"Shame on you, Shame on you rulers. You have betrayed your people ... Open the borders and let us fight the Jews," youths chanted.


Umm...yes. Let us ten thousand unarmed youths go charge an army of machine gun weilding Israeli's ...yeah , what a wonderful idea ! Great population control method , I must admit. Not too effective militarily, but then most middle eastern governments consider their own population little more than chattle to be rounded up and executed any time they can gain advantage from it.

City of Hero's : Report On Stealth

Ok, I broke my rule about not taking non combat powers until 14th...I took stealth at 6th , just to try it out.

What does stealth do ?

You can get MUCH closer to a mob before it sees you.

but , once they spot you , you stay spotted. Shooting one , running around a corner, and stealthing ? No dice. They chase you until the elevator or the entrance.

It says it offers a slight increase in defence.

Yeah , very slight. five percent when you're not in combat, and the moment you throw an attack it's cut in half to two point five percent. Waste of time.

What *CAN* you do with stealth.

Walk around the corner and almost bump into a mob, and not get spotted.

Survey the area and see where the mobs are and plan out how you're gonna do this.

Decide you don't like this side of the room, the mobs are all piled at the door you're gonna enter. Run past them (while stealthed) to the other side of the room , and now you have some room to work with. And they problaby didn't see you go by , so you still get to decide who to shoot first.

Stealth isn't the be all to end all , but the ability to survey the situation and plan it out , rather than suddenly there's a mob pounding on you , is a worthwhile thing to have.

Though maybe 6th level is a little too early for it.

City of Hero's : General Tactics

Ok , I bought the game City of Heros / City of Villians for my computer. It's an online game with like thousands of players all in the same game world, running into each other , yelling and screaming at each other ...great fun.

This is my general guide , for those that are thinking of picking it up.

Defence 1 : Attack

When you get your charactar , you get like one attack. You attack. You wait. You wait. You wait. You think..jeesh , how long does it take for this to recharge ? And then you attack again. If you had a second attack ... you could probably attack a second time while the first one was recharging...

Exactly. You want to get to three or four attacks reasonably quickly. You also want some defence , so I hesitate to say take four attacks right away ... but you want them right quick. How many ? Three or four ? Well... if after three attacks you still feel you have time to sneak in a fourth while the other three are recharging, then get a fourth. If there's little or no down time between attacks..leave it at three.

Defence 2 : Temporary Defences.

Temporary defences , you turn them on , you forget about them, they stay on forever. Why are they called temporary ?

Because if you get stunned or put to sleep , even for a few seconds, all your temporary powers turn off. And if you forget to turn them back on ...you're dog meat. Hot key those temporary defences so you can turn them on quick, and keep an eye on them , especially when you get stunned / slept.

The Level 8 Dilema :

Somewhere around 7 or 8 , the baddies start using fire and ice and lightning and what not on you. You'll notice most of your defences say they're good against "Lethal" or "Smashing" (bullets and clubs) , and say nothing about fire. And that guy throwing fire at you seems to be handing you your butt quite efficiently.

Need to pick up some elemental defence.

Why is this obvious statement a problem ? Because around level 6 , certain secondary powers, like hovering , or stealth , or what not , apear for you to choose from. And so you can "waste" a power on something non combat , or even two powers (the one at 6th , and the one at 8th ..you get a power every even level). At which point.. .you didn't buy up your elemental defences ! And your charactar dead ends and you discover you can't fight your way out of a paper bag.

yeah , don't do that. No "travel" powers or other stuff until 14ish ..or even later.

The Elevator Trick.

Hostages you rescue will follow you through an elevator. Thugs and villians will not. And this includes the entrance to the "mission" in the first place. Feel free to run for the door and step outside for some fresh air ! The tactic of running in , offing one of them (you can't say Kill , you're a super hero , you're jsut arresting them) and then fleeing to rest up and do it again, actually works very well.

Clear the bottom area first.

How many times did I run up to the main boss of the mish , and he knockes me over the railing and down to the lower floor. Right into the middle of a second mob of thugs. And then he jumps down and follows me , and now I'm injured and fighting two mobs instead of just one ? I'm toast !

Yeah ... if an area has several levels, clear the bottom ones out first ,just in case you get knocked down there. That way you only face the one mob , that will chase you donw there, and you don't wind up doubling your problems.

Read the Paper.

If you type /e newspaper in the chat window, your charactar will pull out a newspaper and start reading it. It looks cool. And if you're down to half health and less endurance , you dont want to go picking a fight with the next mob. You want to wait a few moments while you recover. Not charge into the next battle ! So if you're low on health ... read the paper. Relax. Take it easy a few minutes.

Don't build a stupid Charactar !

It seems obvious, but I've seen people do it. They build some cool looking charactar (the system for making costumes is awsome in this game by the way, you should try it out) and then at level one they assign him web grenade (to hold an apponent still) and some kind of life drain , which heals you while doing no damage to the enemey.

Thats right. They build a charactar with *NO* attack powers. How did you plan on fighting crime again ? Politely asking them to surrender ? Pretty please ?

The system will let you build a stupid charactar that can't fight his way out of a paper bag. Amusing as a joke, but you only get experiance for defeating your foes. That charactars going no where.

I need one more attack / def but there's none in my pool at my level !

The combat pool . You can take a kick or a punch as soon as you hit 6th.
And the defence ? An extra attack means your enemey goes down a little quicker, means he has a little less time to throw damage at you. So an extra attack *IS* an extra defence.

Minions and Lieutenants
When you go on a mission , all the enemies are about your level. No matter what level you are. But they are broken into two kinds. Minions (very weak) and Lieutenants.

Minions and Lieutenants put out about the same amount of damage. Even worse, the Lieutenant usually has some kind of power that helps the minions do more damage to you. Minions can be beaten in one or two rounds of combat. Lieutenants take much longer. 5-8 is pretty common.

Always kill the minions first. The lieutenant does about as much as the minion and takes a lot longer to get rid of. Take the minion down first , and thats less damage being thrown at you very quickly. The overall damage you take in the life time of a fight drops like a rock if you take out the minions first, rather than let them live a long , long time while you do the lieutenant first and then go chasing them.

Insurance Fears Lead Many to Shun DNA Tests

Ah , the american health care system. One of my favorite subjects.

Article


Victoria Grove wanted to find out if she was destined to develop the form of emphysema that ran in her family, but she did not want to ask her doctor for the DNA test that would tell her.

She worried that she might not be able to get health insurance, or even a job, if a genetic predisposition showed up in her medical records, especially since treatment for the condition, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, could cost over $100,000 a year. Instead, Ms. Grove sought out a service that sent a test kit to her home and returned the results directly to her.


So what is the problem here ?

The problem is that Health Insurance in the USA only seems to want to sell their product to people who don't need it , to people who won't ever get sick. If you have some kind of genetic disposition , they're going to raise the premiums because it's more likely you'll cost them money.

And since most health insurance in the states is through the employer, that costs the employer more money ... maybe they don't want to hire you.

In the states, this is called "Type One Uninsurable" , where upon the people who need health insurance the most are simply left to die.

I wonder if they understand ... no one needs that kind of health insurance. Maybe it would be better to do without it entirely , since it's only going to treat tennis elbow and the common cold and nothing else. Maybe we'll treat our own tennis elbow and let these guys go out of business from lack of customers ?

Legal torture

Ex-cop facing jail time rejects last chance to testify at Ont. public inquiry


Even the threat of death wouldn't be enough to compel a former Ontario police officer to testify before a public inquiry into an alleged pedophile ring, he told a Toronto court on Wednesday.


Now why would someone say that ? Probably because they're being tortured.


"I will never go to that public inquiry in Cornwall even if you put a gun to my head," said Dunlop. "It's been excruciating."

Aha.


The former officer blew the whistle in the 1990s on allegations that prominent community members, including Roman Catholic clergy, were sexually abusing dozens of children in incidents dating back to the 1950s.


I remember living through this. Half the churches in ontario wound up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to keep their preachers out of jail for child molesting. Everyone thought it was so corrupt of the catholic church because these people were getting off scott free and other people were paying the money for them to continue their molesting ways.

And now ... the cop that started it all is still being tortured, I mean questioned, on the matter 17 years later. They want to investigate how the police handled the matter (ie: drag him through the public eye and make him look bad) in a "Public" Inquirey.

And of course he doesn't want any of that.

It seems the Catholic Church is trying to set itself up as untouchable. Say or do anything against them , and they will come for you , even decades later. And that is just not acceptable. This guy isn't even a cop any more, and I have no doubt the church is responsible for that he isn't even charged with any crimes , he's just tired of answering questions after 17 years of this nonsense.

And the value of a witnesses statement after 17 years is pretty much zilch anyways. Check his police notes, but dragging him out 17 years later is pretty much a waste of everyones time.

That church is scum , if you ask me.

And the Winner Is : Blue Ray !

Article


TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer manufacture HD DVDs, effectively ending the long-running battle with the rival Blu-ray for a dominant high-definition format.


So , am I happy or Sad that Blue Ray beat HD ?

Don't give a rats behind. As long as someone one and there's only one format to deal with. I aint buying two players and two sets of DVD's.

What does this mean for the average user ?

Everyone is going to produce blue ray disks instead of the old DVD because it's too
easy to copy the old DVD's and trade them over the internet. Blue Ray may have some new fancy wigits to add ... but really , it's mostly about copy protection.

So we should rush out and get a Blue Ray Player ?

It's entertainment, not a neccesity. Don't rack up your credit card if you don't have to ! But yes... all the new movies will be blue ray only now. The death blow has been dealt not only to HD DVD's , but regular DVD's as well. But the blue ray player will play your old DVD's so you don't have to go out and buy them all over again. Which I hate , because I lost so many movies from my collection when VHS died and I had to switch to DVD.

Is Blue Ray High Definition ?

Yes.

What does that mean to you ?

Not much. I watch movies on my computer screen , which qualifies as a high definition TV all by itself.

What about High Definition TV ?

It's nice that they raise the quality of the picture on TV , but TV is still CRUD !!! and not worth my time. I'll probably wait for a player to come out that goes in my computer. 22 min of show and 38 min of HIGH DEFINITION commercials is a waste of my time.

Hurt Feelings

Dozens of Afghan civilians killed in attack on Canadian convoy: official


At least 38 civilians have been killed in a suicide car bombing on Monday that targeted a Canadian convoy in southern Afghanistan, a governor said.

While four Canadian soldiers were slightly wounded in the attack at a busy market in the town of Spin Boldak, 30 civilians were also injured, many of them critically, Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said.



The Taliban claimed responsibility through its spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi.


Yes yes we claim responsibility for blowing up one of our own people , killing a bunch of civilians we dont' really care about even though they're our civilians , and possibly hurting the feelings of a few canadians.

We are determined to continue to blow ourselves up and kill our own people until you leave. Hopefully you will feel bad about all the people who are dying (even though they're not your people) and will leave on yoru own , because it's obvious we don't have the military strength to guard the local outhouse.

viva la resistance !

Bell recovers stolen data on 3.4 million customers

Article


Bell said Tuesday it has recovered data on 3.4 million of its customers in Quebec and Ontario that was stolen more than four weeks ago.



But it did include information on about 170,000 unlisted and unpublished phone numbers.


Why is this important ?
Telemarketers do much better on the sales if they have your name. If you wife pickes and the person on the other end asks for you specifically , it will likely get through. If he asks 'for the lady of the house' or ' the gentleman of the house' , you're gonna know it's a salesman and say NO ! and hang up , even if you are the lady or gentleman of the house.


The stolen data was shopped around to a number of people, Langton said. One of those people notified authorities.


Tried to sell it.
But it's data , you can make a copy easy , or many copies, how do you know he didn't sell it once or twice already ?


There's no indication that this data has been used improperly," Langton said, adding that Bell will give a new unlisted number to anyone who asks for one.


And that means nothing. Well, the new phone number is nice, though you have to inform all your friends and family of it now, which is annoying. But the value of your unlisted phone number is now toast. Why ? Because it can happen again. And again. And again.

And hey , Bell itself calls us up once a month to try and sell us a DSL modem. Regular as clock work. Just as Rogers hs someone knock on our door (have a rogers modem) trying to sign us up for their phone service. They're both dang annoying.

PM open to compromise with Liberals on Afghan mission

Article



The Conservative government will consider tabling a new motion to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan until the end of 2011 that could include elements from the Opposition Liberals' proposed amendment, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday.


That would be the amendment where our soldiers don't fight , they just concentrate on building stuff and then watching Al Qada tear it all down without lifting a finger.

Anyone following the news knows that you can't build diddly in Afghanistan. They dump medical waste down the toilet , entire buildings set up by the americans are dismantaled and moved (stolen ! ) Al Qada loves to blow up power lines and kidnap foriegn workers.

The Amendmant is a simple do nothing , see how fruitless this is, lets all go home and forget about it amendmant. Only problem is Al queda is out to conquer the world, and that includes us by the way, so that is a dangerous thing to do.

No one wants a five or ten or twenty year war.
But no one wants Al Queda showing up in canada blowing things up either.
I think we have to stay.

Canada a top copyright violator, U.S. group says

Article


Canada has joined Russia and China as the biggest violators of U.S. copyright law, according to the U.S.-based International Intellectual Property Alliance.

Maybe we don't want your cherry flavored tylonal. Maybe we're pretty happy with the old stuff that fell out of copyright in this country 17 years ago , but in the states the laws got changed and gave them more time. (basically forever)


The group also recommended that 10 other countries be placed on the Priority Watch List, including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Ukraine.

It also recommended that 29 other countries, including Spain, Sweden and Israel, be placed or maintained on the less critical Watch List. A total of 51 countries were named as significant violators.


No specific cases. Just a general everyone is a scum bag they don't follow our laws.
Well , you're laws are a crime to most people, even your own people. When we agree to a 17 year copy right and you decided at the last minute NO , WE CHANGED OUR MIND , WE WANT IT FOREVER , that just doesn't fly.


The group's report is the latest to urge the U.S. government into pressuring Ottawa to reform copyright laws.
Thanks for admitting we were following the copy right laws, and you altered them from underneath us , thus demanding we 'reform' our ways to the new version.

If you don't like it , don't sell stuff here. What can I say ? Keep your cherry flavored tylonal, and new experimental drugs that do more harm than good and keep getting recalled. Canadian Business would love a chance to make their own TV shows and music instead of being drowned in cheap run offs from the states. We make our own beer here too you know, and our own cars.

I vote we stop buying american.
I vote we cut them off. We don't want most of their junk anyways.

Gaza power plant stops production

Article


People living in the Gaza Strip held a candlelight march Sunday evening to protest the closure of their main power plant Sunday, due to a fuel shortage.


Yeah , we'd like to protest the fact that you stopped sending us fuel. Just because everytime you open that gate we send in suicide bombers to kill a few of your kind , we don't think thats good and sufficent reason to cut off our power.


In addition to the fuel it receives from Israel to power its electrical plant, Gaza gets about two-thirds of its electricity directly from Israel. Israeli officials said that supply would not be affected.


Yeah , we know you run electricity down a wire and we get power that way , but we can't send suicide bombers back up that wire to cause havoc inside of your country , oops ..sorry , we refuse to recognize Israel as a country , you are theives who took our land from us (after paying us higher than the going rate for it) ...to cause havoc among your people , so thats not good enough.


Israel, with Egypt's co-operation, has blockaded Gaza and allowed only basic food items and humanitarian supplies to enter since June, when the militants of Hamas seized power there.


Thanks for the food though. All the militants with guns eat very well while the poor people you meant the food for are allowed to starve to death ...excuse me , martyr'ed for the cause.


Under Hamas rule, militants have been free to fire near-daily rocket barrages at Israeli towns around Gaza.

Palestinian militants say they are continuing their rocket fire in retaliation for intensified Israeli raids.


And now that we are so well fed by our enemies, we will continue to attack them. And use our own people as hostages to those wimps , who don't understand , they are firewood , meant to be used, abused , and then martyr'd for our cause. Their lives don't actually have any value.

The battle will continue ! Until everyone converts to our religion !
And they all become firewood for our cause.

I want to spend YOUR money !

Article

Toughen ISP rules on child porn, advocate says

A child-safety advocate wants the federal government to introduce tougher rules requiring internet service providers to release more information about customers who access child pornography.


I have a belief. And it's a good belief. And everyone agree's it's a good belief. But we don't want everyone to pay for it. We just want YOU , the internet companies to pay for it. In full. And no one else.


ISPs are not required to retain customer data, frustrating police investigations into suspected child-pornography users.


And my idea is going to cost a FORTUNE !!! I want YOU to keep a record of every single website every user of your service ever visits. Ever. And I don't care that it will probably bankrupt you cause that's like a huge expense.

And now that we are keeping such records...I'd like to supena them for other purposes. I have a suspect here thinks he's cheating on her so I'd like to supena every porno site he ever visited, even by mistake. And I have a court order to enforce it.

The violations of privacy of this kind of notion just boggle the mind.

Help stamp out child sex abuse. Take your kids computer away from them and tell them to go out into the park and play.

:)

Mind Control Research : Advertisers Delight

Microsoft bringing ads to shopping carts


The software maker spent four years working with Plano, Texas-based MediaCart Holdings Inc. on a grocery cart-mounted console that helps shoppers find products in the store


Not that bad an idea


Microsoft's acquisition of aQuantive, an online advertising company, last year for $6 billion shored up the company's capacity to serve video ads onto these grocery cart screens.

Spam spam spam ... more spam ... everywhere you go ..every surface you see... that surface is being transformed into a video player designed to show ads. Imagine a world where the sides of every building , and the sidewalks themselves ..are constantly playing ads and trying to sell you junk.


Advertisers will get more feedback about which commercials or coupon offers are effective, because customers either buy the products or accept the offers on the spot, or they don't.


Loosely translated : We're gonna try and fast talk them with pretty pictures...and we're going to INSTANTLY find out if it worked so we can try again and again and again to make them buy this junk. Very quickly we'll figure out what makes them buy junk , and what doesn't.

Whether they need this junk or not , whether it was on the grocery list they brought with them or not ... that's not part of the equation. Can anyone say "Mind Control" ?

Bring a bag and cover the screen is my advice. The last thing you need is to go to the grocery store to pick up some bread and milk and come home with 50$ of junk food instead and "oh I couldn't afford this AND the milk..so I skipped that...junior can have a chocolate bar instead. "

Your Personal Information.

What is your personal information ?

Well lets see... xfire...a chat program , just updated their terms and conditions and it has a pretty standard definition of what personal information their chat program gathers.


1.Collection and Use of Personal Information: When we use the term "Personal Information" we mean information such as your first/middle initial or name and last name, street address, town or city, state, zip code, telephone number, instant-messenger nickname, blog or other personal website URL, date of birth, e-mail address and any other information that would allow someone to identify you or contact you. Personal Information also includes information about your personal preferences, game play preferences, lists of your friends and their email addresses, instant-messenger nicknames or other personal identifiable information that you may add to such friend lists, survey responses and your transactions or relationship with us, if you have been a user of the Service or you have provided this type of information to any of the MTVN family of companies.


Ummm... that would be everything. More than enough to take out a morgage in my name.
And that information is now out of my control ... and so if it gets left on a lap top and gets stolen and some hacker uses it to sell my house out from underneath me (got to love those "...and any other information that would allow someone to identify you or contact you." clauses.

And if you don't like it ... too bad. I'd say don't use our program (I havn't in months) but these conditions are pretty typical of every online game , every operating system , every computer you buy , every salesman signing you up for a rebate (you never get the rebate , but they definately keep all the info on file for ever) everything.

Dell sold all my banking info to Sympatico. I'm still pissed. My BANKING info. Bank account, access codes , permission to take money from me , everything. And then only told me about it afterwards. My faith in big business is gone. Personal experiance you understand , not something I read in some paper somewhere.

Identity Theft Grows uncontrollably

Personal data theft reaches record levels in 2007: group


The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and social security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007, and the trend isn't expected to turn around anytime soon, as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.



More of them are experiencing data breaches, and they're responding to them in a reactive way, rather than proactively looking at the company's security and seeing where the holes might be," said Linda Foley, who founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center after becoming an identity theft victim herself.


People are stealing your personal information left right and center. What can you do about it ?

Nothing, not a dang thing.

The data is not being stolen from you. It's being stolen from companies who are willing to pay a fortune for a million email addresses (for example) and then leave it on a lap top while the salesman steps in for a coffee, comes back , and his company lap top is gone. Big deal , not like he has to pay for it , thats what insurance is for !

So , what can you do to stop the theft of data that these jerk rags weren't supposed to have in the first place but hang onto like gold , sell to each other for fortunes, and then eventually lose a copy to hackers ?

Not a dang thing. These salespeople essentially stole that data from you in the first place, certainly no one wants onto the list of every spammer in the world volintarily , keep real quiet about the fact that they even have this data , and then when some jerk rag who isn't responsible for anything and doesn't think it's his problem lets his lap top get stolen they claim "not us ! blame the hackers ! Not us !!!"

So. They steal your information for sales purposes, lose it to a hacker , and then tommorow a moving truck shows up at your front door wondering why you're still there we just bought this place you have to get out or we're calling the cops ! And when the cops take a look , wow , they really did buy it from you for dirt cheap...why are you still here ?

It's an Extra Operation , Stupid !

ok Ok, a few articles down I was ragging on the medical association for complaining that more doctors need to recoomend cosmetic surgury , like breast reconstruction (which is actually two extra operations)

My Aunt decided to put in her oar and point out that people need that to feel complete, they don't wanna feel like some monster walking around with lopped off parts (my words, not hers)

And I've been thinking about that.

I have a bag on my belly , due to medical problems (Chrones Disease (sp?) ), and I hide it. A lot. And I remember the first time they stuck it in my , promising me it would only be temporary , how upset I was. Then I was really upset when I asked the nurse how long is "temporary" and she said "probably only a few months". If I had had the strength I probably would have flipped out at that point.

So ... I gotta give her that point. People's self opinion does have a lot of bearing on the matter , even to the point of doing unneccesary operations. Im still not too happy about this bag on my belly (now two years later) and would give anything to get rid of it.

But thats not gonna happen. At least not in my case.

Go to Jail and Die

Article

Inmate Health-Care Costs Soar In Mesa County

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The cost of medical care for inmates in the Mesa County jail is expected to soar by more than 40 percent this year.

The jail has budgeted nearly $1.4 million for health care in 2008, compared with the $982,000 it spent in 2007.

"We about had a cow," County Commissioner Janet Rowland said. "It is a lot of money."


Hmm... looking ...looking.. how odd..no remarks about how sick the inmates are ....


Sick call is twice a week, and inmates are required to pay $8 to see a doctor or dentist and $5 to see a nurse. Prescription refills, lab work and X-rays are $4 each.

Dental care is limited to filling cavities and pulling teeth.

The county does not pay for treatment of pre-existing conditions.


So...if I'm one of them there American Type One Uninsurables, a term that only exists in america, and I pick a pocket and get thrown in jail ... I die ?

God Bless America ! The Land of the Healthy Young People !
We just let the sick and the old die. Gets rid of them quick.
Works great !!!!

The breaking of the DVD Dam

Article = none , personal experiance


I bought some movies the other day.

• Spider Man 3
  
• Ghost Rider
  
• Pirates of the Carribean 3
  

And..just today , I also bought some movies.

• Live Free or Die Hard (Bruce Willis)
  
• Urban Justice (Steven Segal)
  

Why am I writing a blog article about my taste in movies , you may ask. Well, I'll be happy to tell you.

The one that jumps out most is Pirates of the Carribean 3. Why ? Because I distinctly remember it being advertised as being on Blue Ray only , and it would never ever ever be realeased on regular DVD you have to buy a blue ray player and then the movie and then you are locked into the blue ray format forever more ha ha arn't we so clever you putz !

Ahem. I bought it on regular dvd format.
The kind that plays on my old ancient non-blue ray player.
Ahem. I bought them ALL on regular old , we aint making movies for that anymore , ancient , regular dvd format. All of them.

The HD / blue ray dvd dam is broken now. No one can afford a 500$ + mistake , so no one bought into either format. They just waited, accept for one or two percent of the population who are rich enough to buy both players and then purchase movies from both formats and they don't care if one or both goes belly up because they're stinking rich.

But two percent of the viewing audience does not keep a big movie company afloat. And they have wages to pay , but the viewing public it costs nothing , heck it SAVES them money , to just keep their money in their pocket and wait. And wait. And wait. And we can out wait you.

And now both formats are dead. Because now that we see that you're releasing movies in the old dvd format and we don't have to blow no 500$ on a new player , we're not going to.

We win.

Blue ray AND HD formats are dead. They're just going to thrash a little bit and make a little more noise before they die. But really ...new movies on the old format ? Why upgrade.

Goodbye Blue Ray (or HD) . *sniff* we hardly knew you.

Bell to administer telemarketer do-not-call list

Article

You're going to have a private corperation like the Phone company administer this list ? Wow..like... how amazingly stupid !


The CRTC has picked Bell Canada to operate the National Do Not Call List, giving the company a five-year mandate to block calls from telemarketers for customers who request the service.

Bell will be responsible for registering numbers, providing telemarketers with up-to-date versions of the list and receiving customer complaints about telemarketing calls. The CRTC said it has not yet been decided how those complaints will be resolved, but that should be determined early in the new year.


Wow..you're going to give away lists of valid phone numbers to telemarketers ? Cheap ?


Certain organizations are exempt from the list. They include charities, political parties, opinion-polling firms, newspapers and organizations that have an existing relationship with the customer.


Wow... like .. every charity organization in the world is going to get YOUR NUMBER if you subscribe to this list ... wow. And existing relationships...umm...you have a phone right ? It's through Bell , the only provider in canada right ? I guess Bell gets to harrass you too ! . And of course their subsiduaries and affiliates. An nifty catch phrase that I have recently learned means "everyone and the dog who cares to pay them a little bit of money "...

Why are newspapers allowed to spam you ?

Yeah , we run a great newspaper ? It's called Debters Not So Anonymous , we're wondering if you'd like a copy because your name is prominently mentioned in it ? No ..well , while we have you on the phone lets talk about that 200$ you owe for your engagnement that didn't happen ... you still have to pay it back you know ...

Yeah , yo ubought groceries at the grocery store...so they can spam you ... oh you bought a CD at the record store , now they can spam you too ....

Oh ! You had the phone company change your phone number because you were getting all these calls... they updated the list with your new number and you STILL get those calls...

Anyone who signs up for this list is a victem waiting to be fleeced, and these guys are more than willing to do it.

Surgeons Actually Consider health first, money second

Surgeons fail to discuss reconstruction with breast cancer patients: study


Surgeons frequently fail to discuss breast reconstruction options with women who have undergone surgery for breast cancer, a new U.S. study suggests.


Let me respond to this in the words of my surgeon.

ITS AN EXTRA OPERATION , STUPID !!!!

And an unneeded one for the survival of the patient. Especially one with cancer who's probably going to have way too many operations in the first place ! (reads rest of article)

Pardon me. IT'S TWO EXTRA UNNECCESARY OPERATIONS ! First they rip skin off your butt to rebuild the breast, later on they come back to rebuild a cosmetic but non functioning nipple.

The only real use of such an operation is to transfer money from the patients wallet to the doctors at the expense of the patients health !

Only in the USA could such a study even be bothered with !

Your Private Credit Card Info = Non-Existant

Article

Retailers Face an Ominous Holiday Sign

Sales of women’s clothing, a traditional pillar of the holiday shopping season, are unusually weak so far this year, according to a major credit card company, an ominous sign for the retail industry.


And how did a major credit card company determine this ? Surely not by violating your privacy
and running all your purchases through a computer to look for trends , did they ? Nah , they
wouldn't do that , that would be a violation of privacy !


In contrast, sales of men’s clothing rose 4.5 percent during the first 20 days of the season, MasterCard Advisors said.


So ... how do you know what women and men are purchasing ? Why arn't you getting the two
mixed up ? Well..you see... they put a little tic mark beside either Mr. or Mrs. when they
fill out the credit card application ....


The credit card company issued on Sunday a midseason snapshot of the crucial holiday season, compiled between Nov. 23, known as Black Friday, and Dec. 12. The numbers in its SpendingPulse report are based on the purchases of its 300 million American cardholders, plus estimates of broader consumer spending through cash and checks.


You see son , you have to understand how the industry works. We do whatever you please, and
you have to lump it. Because you work for a living and don't have time for "eternal vigilance"
anymore , and we work for a living too , only our working for a living is to constantly
find new ways of chisling you. And we get well paid for it too. You do understand statistics like this are like gold, everyone wants a copy and is willing to pay lots for it.

It's MasterCard by the way. The information was buried deep in the article , but it was mentioned eventually.

So , how many white male computer techies living within a four block radius of this zip code have purchased computer related equipment in the last three months ? Can I have their names and addresses so I can send them "Promotional Materials" ? (spam ! ) I'll pay yah well !

((after DELL sold me down the river to Sympatico with all my personal information and everything , I no longer trust even big name companies. I don't doubt any company would hesitate at doing this , no matter how large))

Canadian Digital Rights Management

The Canadian Parliment recently withdrew a digital rights bill to rethink it , after a massive face book oriented protest with 20 000 + people signing up in a rather short period of time.

I suppose I should put in my oar , though it's far too late the crowd is way ahead of me.

DONT BAN COPYING DVD's !

Disagree. Those things are good for 30 years. you really have no need to copy them.

DON'T BAN COPYING MP3'S !

Agreed. In order to get an mp3 to my mp3 player , I have to first "rip" it from the cd , making one copy , and then making a second copy on the mp3 player itself. The copy on the mp3 player eventually gets tossed and replaced after I've listened to it too many times , but you get the idea. This is "Fair Use" and the canadian DRM bill didn't have that in it.

MAKE BREAKING THIS COMPANIES ENCRYPTION ILLEGAL !

Disagree. This basically lets the company deny you fair use. Some of the stunts that can be pulled with encryption are ...

• No copying of MP3's , even if it's legal to do so
  
• We can't guarentee the quality of your movie after two years, so it will stop working then !
  
• You can only play these songs on our one player and no other. Oh , and only on your copy if your player dies you gotta buy another player AND all those songs / movies / etc all over again !
  

I'm sure you can use your immagination to see how this particular clause can be used to impose any limitation the corporation in question likes, circumnavigating any fair use clauses or even common sense usage that the government would otherwise approve of.

COPY RIGHT THIS WORK FOREVER !!!!

Medicines are only copyrighted for 17 years, even in the united states. Why is the copyright on a song or movie forever ? I mean Stairway to Heaven was a nice song, but you do know that 1971 was over 35 years ago ? 35 years is way excessive for a copyrigth if you ask me.

NO MOVIES OVER THE INTERNET

Agreed. Give the ISP providers the right to block the transfer of movies across their network. They won't block their own services (rent our movie and no late fees ! it self destructs in 3 days anyways !) But this will block that insane file sharing that really has no justification

NO MP3'S OVER THE INTERNET !

Same argument as movies, I agree it should be blocked.

NOTHING SHOULD BE COPYRIGHTED , EVER !

I don't know what yammer head has been spreading this around, but it's nonsense. Companies do not blow 50 million dollars making a movie like star wars and then give it away for free. Not a happening thing. You want your nice stream of high quality movies (and MP3's and what not ) to continue , they have to get their money somehow.

But by the same token they shouldn't be allowed to gouge your lungs out. I think a limited copyright of 15 or 20 years is the way to go. Just like medical drugs.

AECL head resigns amid isotope controversy

The head of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) quit Friday, one day after the forced restart of a nuclear reactor responsible for producing more than half of the world's medical isotopes.


"I don't want to be the one in charge when that thing blows !"


The reactor was closed on Nov. 18 for repairs. That's when federal nuclear inspectors discovered that the facility had been operating without emergency power backup for its cooling pumps and insisted on upgrades before it could be reopened.


So what are you saying here , if someone cuts the power to the reactor it goes into some kind of China Syndrom because it has no cooling pumps anymore ? And you want to run this reactor in this condition ?


Harper announced Friday that Burns will be replaced on Dec. 31 by Glenna Carr, a former Ontario bureaucrat. Carr has served as the deputy minister of three Ontario ministries.


And the new person in charge of this faulty reactor with no battery back ups for it's cooling pumps is.... you guessed it ... a politician with no scientific knowledge at all !


Harper had previously laid the blame for the isotope crisis on the CNSC.

He said the "Liberal-appointed" commission put lives at risk by insisting the reactor remain offline until safety measures were installed.


"People are dying out there ! Turn the dang thing on , it won't blow I promise ! I'm a politician I know these things, don't listen to those technical people ! "




Article

MPs pass bill to restart urgent isotope production

Article


The House of Commons passed emergency legislation late Tuesday night to reopen an Ontario nuclear reactor that produces most of the world's supply of critical medical isotopes, even though the site has been shut down for safety maintenance.


Damb the Torpedoe's ! Full speed ahead !


"There will be no nuclear accident, " Harper answered him in the Commons.


Really ? You promise ?


The operator of the Chalk River reactor, Atomic Energy of Canada Lt., had said it expected the plant to be up and running by the middle of this month, but the safety commission was refusing to allow it to restart production until it resolved a host of safety issues.


So what does this legislation do ?


The Conservatives, facing pressure to solve the shortfall, introduced Tuesday's bill to get Chalk River back online by circumventing the Liberal-appointed CNSC.


Why do i get the horrible feeling CNSC stands for Canadian Nuclear Safty Council ?
Lemme get this straight. The world ran out of medical isotopes ,or is running low , and your only nuclear plant to make them is down for safety issues.

You're solution ? Disolve the saftey board , start the reactor anyways.

I have only one thing to say about decisions like this.

Schreiber allegations cut intoTory support

Article


The Mulroney-Schreiber affair is dragging down support for the Harper government -- especially in Quebec and Ontario--but doing little to boost the Liberals, a new national poll reveals.


And thats the whole purpose of it all.
It doesn't matter that Schreiber has been caught lying a few times.
It doesn't matter that these are all unsubstantiated accusations by a man who spent his life making a very good living lying his pants off.
It doesn't matter that when all is said and done Mulroney will be found innocent and the canadian government will have to cover his court costs ... again ! ... to the tune of a few more million dollars.

All that matters is that the smear campaign is working, and so the Liberal Opposition is very happy to let this two faced liar continue this public charade for as long as they possibly can drag it out.

Map that named America is a puzzle for researchers

Article

Ummm...thats an awful skinny america there off beside africa.
And it's shape isn't something I recognize as having much to do with any map I ever saw.
And why woudln't they stick an ocean on the other side ? Every other continent on the map is surrounded on all sides by water why not this new one ?

Impressed they got a few details right ... but it aint THAT close ! No need to dust off the old psychic ball excuses yet !

Why I love Bush So Much

Hmm... interesting Question

Lets Compare Bush with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , the Iranian President , and see why I might prefer one over the other.

• Bush : Christian fundimentalist, but willing to let you believe your own religion.
  
• Ahmadinejad : Death to all Infidel Dogs !!!!!
  
• Bush : Bought off by a bunch of Texas Oil Tycoons
  
• Ahmadinejad : Pushed into power by a bunch of Imans who like to shout "Death to all Infidel Dogs !!!!!"
  
• Bush : Doesn't like Iran much , but is willing to negotiate.
  
• Ahmadinejad : "We're going to wipe Israel off the map."
  
• Bush : Against Health Care. Gotta have insurance, even if you're a kid. And if you have diabetes or some other childhood ailment you are Type 1 Uninsurable for the rest of your (short) life 'cause no one wants to touch you.
  
• Ahmadinejad : Thinks strapping explosive vests on 10 year old children and sending them off to blow up soldiers is a wonderful idea !
  

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Bush is a fairly corrupt , bought and paid for American president trying to secure oil for a country that believes it to be their life blood. I am not blind to this , or to his other crimes (Telling Canada to take a hike when the free trade agreement didn't go Bush's way didn't win any kudo's from me , let me tell you !)

But the fact is , we can live with him. We can work around him , and you can only be Prez for 8 years ...soon he'll be gone. And the american congress curbs his excesses, as they do any american presidents.

We really can't live or come to an accommidation with someone who wants to convert us to his religion. (Oops... you converted to the wrong type of our religion , we're going to go to war with you anyways now ! Don't you know there's two kinds of Islam , and if you pick one side the other side hates you forever and wants to kill you ? )

We don't really have a choice.

Iranian president declares victory over U.S.

Article


Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," is able to refocus his fiery rhetoric on the United States at a time when he has faced growing criticism among Iran's political elite.

"This report tried to extract America from its impasse, but it is also a declaration of the Iranian people's victory against the great powers," he said in a rally in the western province of Illam.


Translation : Yes, thank you for clearing our good name , sorry about those remarks about wiping Israel off the map , and No , you still don't get to inspect our nuclear reactors to see if we're really making weapons or not , you'll have to continue guessing and issuing reports like this , never knowing if they're accurate or not.

US report: Iran weapons program halted since 2003

Article


In its latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), Iran: Nuclear intentions and capabilities, the US National Intelligence Council judges "with high confidence" ...

Translation : We think. Maybe.


...that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons programme in the third quarter of 2003 and is also confident that it has not to date restarted it. The halt appears to have been in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure,

Translation : They stopped because the US started talking nasty and MADE them stop. The rest of the international community could'nt fight a war against Canada without US help.

but the country appears to be keeping the nuclear option open, the authors conclude.

Translation : But they're still trying to get something nuclear started.

Acknowledging that it is not known whether Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons in the future,

But you do know. He's publically announcing "DEATH TO THE ISRAELI'S" at every opportunity, and how they will be cleansed by fire. From the lips of the president of Iran himself , on the news and everything. Or does that not count ?


the report assesses it as possible, but unlikely, that Iran could be
technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a weapon by late 2009, although a date after 2013 would be probably be more realistic.


Translation : Making Nukes are hard, they're gonna need more time.


Difficulty One :
It took me half an hour to find quotes from the intelligence estimate. Who buried it all so deep ? I don't like to talk about conspiracy theories, but those articles vanished really really quickly and none of the new ones actually have any quotes in them, they all just make Bush out to be a liar.

Difficutly Two :
Every yammer head and the dog is announcing what a great victory this is for Iran over Bush. Not america , but president Bush. Excuse me ? These idiots are not capable of making nukes BECAUSE Bush has been putting pressure on them since the beginning. And instead of congradulating him for a job well done you're hounding him for harrassing these "innocent" (DEATH TO ALL ISRAELI PIG DOG MONKEYS !) Iranians ?

Supreme Court a rough ride for Gitmo detainees' lawyer

Article


In a case that could determine the future of the controversial military prison, a lawyer representing 37 detainees argued "the time for experimentation is over" and the prisoners should immediately be granted habeas corpus rights denied them at Guantanamo.


I have a wonderful idea !

You can't take prisoners anymore if you go to war. Why ? Because you have to give them all the rights due to an american citizen. You need proof they actually did something wrong , and lots of witnesses , and no your own soldiers don't count because they're obviously prejudiced...oh ..your own soldiers and the enemey soldiers were the only people around ? Guess you have to let all prisoners go then. Too bad.

Oh ... since you're not allowed to take prisoners you're just going to shoot them all ? That's murder ! We're gonna put all your soldiers in your own jails and try them under your own courts.. and maybe get a few enemey soldiers who want to kill you to testify what bad people your soldiers are so they can all get executed.

Oh ..you're not allowed to defend yourselves anymore ? Oh thats really too bad now the world will be safe for liberals like me , no more war .. .hey ... who the hell are you ? Why are you pointing that gun at me ? We are peace loving people that don't hurt anyone !

*bang bang* *body falls to floor*
"Death to the Infidels ! " Runs off and starts shooting random innocent american citizens since the americans no longer defend themselves.

------------------------------------------------


Canadian terrorism suspect Omar Khadr is a party to the Supreme Court case, but his legal situation is more complicated than the other detainees because he faces charges before the U.S. war crimes tribunals.

"It's an important case for assessing the propriety of the administration's over-arching legal position -- that the judiciary has no role to play in the war on terror," said Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler, Mr. Khadr's lead military attorney.

"Our position continues to be that Canada can't rely on the American courts to protect the rights of Omar Khadr. The Canadian government is going to have to do that itself."

Maybe We don't want to.
Omar Khadr ? An obvious Middle Eastener immigrant found in Afghanistan shooting at american troops ? If he ever fell into Canadian hands they'd strip him of his Canadian citizenship and send him packing , what do you mean defend him ? Shoot him , maybe , defend him , not a chance ! We're on the other side of the war , those could have been Canadian troops that he was shooting at ! And you think we're gonna do squat for him ????

Calgary man loses $20K after eBay sale hijacked

Article


When Duraj complained to eBay, the company wrote him a letter saying someone had temporarily taken over, or hijacked, the seller's page, and that he would have to contact police and the FBI.
.
.
.
(RCMP Cpl. Louis)Robertson said he believes eBay is ignoring police and customers because it doesn't want people to know criminals have figured out how to abuse the site.




Online sites are for advertising. Nothing more. Don't buy jack from those guys if you can afford it, show up at the store in person. The prettiest, most wonderful sites are the ones most likely to be fraudulent , you understand.

Nice of eBay to say "tough luck buddy , we aint re-imbursing you a dime."

The Road to Ubuntu (or Leopard) - screw the OS, move your apps online with Google

Article


I've been trying to bend Gutsy Gibbon and Leopard to my will so I can abandon Windows, but most of my problems can be solved by embracing online applications like Google Apps


I cannot describe what a bad idea this is.

Google Apps , by the way , is a spread sheet and a word processor online that you can just get to by browsing to google.

The difficulty is Microsoft's nasty habit of issuing a patch , and then their competiters software stops working, and then they say "We didn't write it , we're not responsible for it, talk to them. " Deliberate sabatage , don't you know ?

You can't just forget about the OS , forget about windows, when you're using a competing product. They will sabatage you. And quite deliberately so. And so Google will sue, and it will drag out for YEARS , just as it did in previous cases of this. And then they will only barely comply with the courts verdict, so they'll be sued again , and that will drag out for more YEARS. And your great idea of using a competing product will probably sink down the toilet and go all swirly by then. Because you can't wait years and years and years to do whatever it is you're doing.

Cast off your microsoft chains, the only thing windows is good for is running games on. Switch to Linux of some kind (Stay away from Red Hat , Microsoft purchased those guys) and live free of your operating system deliberately sabataging you in order to make a sale.

Police president angered by Taser comments

Article


"It is unfortunate that you have chosen to venture outside of your mandate as Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, to comment on matters which are apparently, from your comments, beyond your area of expertise and understanding," wrote Cannavino.


People are dying , you yammer head ! And Taser's only excuse is "he lived for two whole minutes ! He was thrasing and screaming in agony for those two minutes, but he lived ! so it can't possibly be our device ! "

Can we fire this idiot ?
It is fully within the domain of an elected official to protect the general public.
It is not within the domain of an unelected union boss to say "lets keep on killing members of the general public and hope it's not our fault !"

Idiots ! Why don't you just start singing "Money Talks !" and make it obvious to everyone ?