2012 : The Not-So-Magical Crystal Ball

artical = none , personal opinion

I suppose, since I am such an opinionated guy , and I have my views on the future , I should write them down , and then later on see how I fare as an Oracle of Future Sight.

Looking into my not so magical crystal ball I see ...

The European Union will fail or get a Federal Government. Or even just something that acts like a federal government. Something that only deals with banking issues will still be subject to stronger governments (like Germany) telling weaker ones like Greece "You spent all that money on WHAT ??? We're not giving you a single mark more !"

The price of Tablets will continue to drop. When they fall to below 200$ for one that I can actually draw on (ie: take a stylus to the screen and lines are drawn on the screen , none of this fake playing with a mouse or drawing thing off to the side) then I will buy one.

All the high school , college , and University students will go back to school in September. I'll be able to get a job in mid august , two weeks before this date , because the Employers know 10% or 20% of their work force is about to up and vanish and an old guy like me who aint going no where in September will suddenly be a very attractive hire. (that one's for my wife who thinks I'm going to be unemployed forever. )

Cyberwarefare , which is currently a nation vs nation affair , will trickle down as electronics get cheaper , and hackers will be using this kind of junk on random personal computers like mine. Not because I have anything valuable on it , but because I have an internet connection and they think they can hijack it and host a porn site there without me knowing and rake in a few bucks before I start wondering why my usage is so high and start investigating. Oh wait... arn't they already doing that to people ? Hmm...that might not count as an actual prediction ...

Now that Microsoft is run by a board of directors who can be sued if they mess up , instead of a single guy who is a majority share holder who can change the direction of the company on a dime and give you the middle finger if you don't like it , they will lose their domination , slowly , and eventually fall away and die. Look for some version of Linux to be picked up by the big boys and turned into a "for profit" distribution. Not neccesariy "100$ for a copy of Linux-For-Profit" though , they may simply charge for extra add ons, like customer support, like charging companies a licensing fee to make software for their operating system , etc etc. (Ubuntu is one of several versions of Linux trying to go down this road)

Star Wars The Old Republic will be the one MMO to Rule Them All ! (not sure how that one will fly , but I'm a fan so I'm putting that in anyways. Hey , over a million subscribers it can't be that bad a game.)

Diablo III's real money auction house will get them sued six ways from Sunday and that game will sink like a stone. Or at least remove the auction house. A dollar to sell a virtual item , and another dollar from the buyer as well ? The only one making money there is the company that makes it.

The internet will be broken into regions and you must deliberately allow connections from other regions to talk to your computer. For example , you may get a message on your screen "A connection from Northern China would like to talk to the application Trust_Me_I'm_Not_A_Virus , do you accept the connection ? (Y/N)"

All operating systems will eventually get a little button on the bottom right of their screen that will let them disconnect or reconnect to the internet just by pressing it. Especially in Canada where they currently charge you by the gigabyte for your connection.

Large Corporations will continue to advertise the heck out of exceptionally bad deals and make you sign up for years and years , and people will think this is normal , while small corporations will continue to offer exceptionally good deals , but won't be able to afford any kind of advertising budget so it will be strictly word of mouth . But once you join these small companies, you'll never be able to bring yourself to go back to The Big Guys.

At this moment , they have call centers that just go out onto the internet and find forums of their competitors and post bad reviews , or good reviews for their own products. Artificial Intelligence, which you now see in voice recognition for example "Emily" when you phone Bell Canada , will take over this task and all the forums, shopping sites, and reviews of anything anywhere , will be spammed to death by a new generation of intelligent bots.

We will go through a phase where people in India (and other countries) will run our personal robots to clean our house and do our dishes because we're too lazy to do it ourself and Artificial Intelligences arn't smart enough to do it for us. This will end when AI's become smart enough to do it.

We will finally see Honest Lawyers when Artificial Intelligences take over the job of being a Lawyer. Of course by then , Artificial Intelligences and robots will have taken over literally every job possible , leaving me to wonder how the government will choose between putting a nation on welfare , or enacting protectionist laws that forbid automation of certain tasks. Where will they draw the line, I wonder ?

And for my friend Wireless Toaster , who sometimes can sound Paranoid, I agree with *SOME* of what he says. That being that those Canadians who are entrusted with powerful government positions and influence, such as CSIS , The Police , and even Members of Parliament , can and probably do face "hostile operations" by foreign governments. When you think about it , there are a lot of nations in the world that don't much like Canada , and why wouldn't they hire a couple of hookers and provide some free drugs to get the information they want ? Why wouldn't they blow a wad on a member of parliament or two to sway a couple of votes in their favor ? Especially for something obvious like flat out giving Country X aid money ? I think they will do this. Heck , I think they are already doing it. They'd be stupid not to.

I predict ... I will actually live long enough to retire at 67. In fact, I'd bet real money on that. Feel free to try and collect off of my corpse if I'm wrong :)

I predict our Natural Governing Party , the Liberals , can only shrink so far. There is definitely a number of core supporters that will not be swayed. That's not to say they'll ever be in power again , or ever climb back from their current third party status. In fact, it's possible they may yet fall a little farther. But there is a lower limit to how far they'll fall.

The founder of Wiki-leaks will be extradited to the USA , where he will receive the death penalty under certain laws that have not yet been written that will allow the USA to kidnap anyone off the street of a forien nation they decide they don't like , try them for Treason against the USA despite the fact that they're not only NOT a US Citizen but have never set foot in the USA in their entire lives, and execute them. And it will be a total mockery of justice. The literal classical kangaroo court. This assumes some USA paid assassin doesn't sneak into his well publicized current location and put a bullet between his eyes.

I predict the islamic terrorists will continue to exploit the poor and the starving of the world to produce an endless supply of terrorists to throw at whoever they decide they don't like. Despite the fact that this is in fact on contravention of the religion they claim to believe in. (suicide is against the rules, tutt tutt). I also think they will continue to make really stupid and obviously false Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet , such as singling out the USA by name when the Prophet makes no claims as to being able to see into the future, in fact he denies such abilities, saying he can only read and write even when he is possessed by the spirit of Islam - The angel Gabriel , and certainly is just an ordinary man at other times) This will continue for as long as there are corrupt and weak governments who do not serve, or protect, their people , and have large tracts of land that are only technically theirs , but they dare not actually send police or sometimes even the army in there for fear they'll be wiped out. The solution to this mess is to declare those uncontrolled tracts seperate nations , aquire their own governments , and then ,free from the corrupt central government , allow them to tend to their own protection. Because right now they are simply not permitted to protect themselves and that just makes them lambs to the slaughter.

not so sure about western nations negative population growth. Technically we are shrinking in population , but it's by such a small amount we could withstand it for many centuries, and it only really started in the 1950's when birth control made the big times. Is one or two generations actually important , or just a passing fad ? I think this issue is too long for me to see the answers to in my life time.

Newspapers will increasingly become less and less relevant as they become more and more mouth pieces of the corporations that own them (what do you think a large newspaper chain is going to do to the political party that decides to raise taxes on large coroperations ?) and bloggers with no affiliation to anyone in particular will become more and more the broker of honest news.

Electric bicycles will become the norm, and will eventually branch out into electric cars. A thouand bucks for a bike compared to 20 000 for a gas guzzling car ? And they already exist today I'm simply predicting they'll become more wide spread ? I'll let you do the math.

and I guess that's it for this year. See you next july.

G20 summit: Leaders alarmed over eurozone crisis

Article

World leaders meeting at a G20 summit in Mexico have urged Europe to take all necessary measures to overcome the eurozone debt crisis. . . .

Ah , the beauty of the Economic Summit. 20 nations all getting together , each saying "You should do this because this would be beneficial to my country and I actually don't care how much harm it would do to your country. " It is truely a thing of beauty.

Take Germany ,for example, lending Greece more money. Do you think Greece actually got more money ? Or do you think Germany said "We're applying it against this months payments to us, and by the way your payments just went up, way up !Because we're taking the interest on this loan to what you already owe !"

The European Union has only one way to fix itself. A federal government. Which they don't have. Right now they have a consortium of squabble-some individual governments, and no federal government to even things out. No federal government to produce transfer payments to help the poorer parts of the Union , no federal government to decide they need to print a little more money because raising taxes isn't going to work.

Right now , what is going to happen is that nation after nation (Greece like the third one , Spain is forth) is going to get these bail outs with high interest loans attached to them that just kicks them when they're down. And sooner or later , they will reach the point where it doesn't matter what they want. They will have no choice but to leave the European union. They'll owe so much money that they'll have to close all the hospitals and cut off all the old peoples pensions. And you think that's going to be allowed ? No , they're heading for the door when that happens.

The European Union is going to shake off the poor nations that joined it ,that they worked so hard into wooing to join it , and there is only going to be a small group of rich nations left. And one by one , those rich nations , who still don't have a federal government , will get into trouble and bail, until there's only one or two left, and they voluntarily agree to shut it all down.

mars one tomfoolery

You want to send some people on a one way trip to Mars, wehre they will live the rest of their short lives ?

Are they sick ? Are they dying of some fatal disease ?

And if you do find volinteers for this , what happens if they get sick ? What happens if they get suicidal ? You going to send husband / wife combinations ? What happens when they get into a fight and want to kill each other ?

The colony I saw in the video doesn't look self sustaining. Doesn't look like it can grow or survive on it's own. Looks like a lot of pieces get flown in , and if they're damaged they can't be replaced.

This idea is technically possible , maybe. But those people will murder each other. And we'll get to watch it all on TV.

Welcome to Cyberwarfare

Flame virus wiped from computers by suicide command

Security experts estimate that Flame has been around since at least 2010, and possibly as early as 2007, and that it was likely created by a nation state.

Pardon Me. That should be "State Sponsored Cyber warfare" . And as the USA hates Iran the most , that's probably why everyone is looking in their direction. Not to say Iran doesn't deserve it. Still... The world has changed. Again.

"Compromised computers regularly contact their pre-configured control server to acquire additional commands," Symantec wrote in a blog post earlier this week. "Following the request, the C&C server shipped them a file named browse32.ocx. This file can be summarized as the module responsible for removing Flamer from the compromised computer."

Files ending in .ocx are windows files. Executables , actually. Our great state sponsored virus is a windows virus.

I feel that it is my obligation to point out that unless you're playing games, you shouldn't be running a windows system. Why is this my obligation ? Because you're not allowed to even write a news story these days pointing out it was yet another windows only virus that attacked and did all that damage , microsoft will sue you for defamation. yet , here we are , another windows only virus.

You should be running Macs , or Linux boxes. (ha ha , you probably don't know this but the Mac Operating system started out as a version of Linux , so running a Mac is running Linux). Ubuntu is reasonably user friendly , and totally free of charge. And comes with an office suite called Open Office, that does word processing , spread sheets , all the stuff Microsoft office does without the virii.

It's open season on all windows machines, people. virus scanners don't catch new virii , they scan for existing ones that they know about , and that means you're standing naked in the rain storm every time a new virus comes out. The virus makers test these things and make darn sure they'll slip past all the major virus scanenrs before they release them.

the cost of running windows for a business is too high to support , and getting higher. Only microsoft propaganda , and their constant deluge of FUD (Fear , uncertainty , Distrust , and yes that is actually a term the microsoft marketting department uses , they got sued and certain marketting documents became public knowledge) is the only reason they're still standing.

What can you do about it ? go get an old clunker and put linux on it. Ubuntu probably , and just practice. You're boss isn't going to listen to you to change out every machine in the corperation , but you don't have to tell him anything. You just have to wait for one or two windows only disasters to befall him , and then point out a few news articles, that's all.

Windows Vista : Part Deux - The Second Failure

Implementing UEFI Secure Boot in Fedora - BY PAYING MICROSOFT?!

Buried in a wall of text is the interesting part.

..., and as previously discussed all Windows 8 hardware will be shipping with secure boot enabled by default.

So. What does this mean ?

Secure boot means the machine in question will only run windows, and nothing else. Since there are any number of hobbiests out there who throw Linux of some kind on their old machine , you are effectively denying them that option. You are strangling the competition , Linux.

Of course, all the virii in the world attack windows machines only. So now every machine in the world will be prone to virii. Yes, Microsoft Fudders (fud = fear , uncertainty , distrust) will tell you there are virii out there for Linux too. But those virii only work if you have the technical knowledge to turn off most of Linux's secure features. A system that can't catch a virus unless you're drunk , technically competent , and looking for trouble is just about as secure as it gets , people.

And what is the prize you gain for having secure boot ? It'll tell you. You get to use the most virus prone clap trap of an Operating system in the world, and you're locked into it. And if you change your mind later on , because you're tired of the computer constantly catching virii, you are Fudding out of luck. You have been scammed by microsoft. Your computer will likely be part of a bot net selling porn to the whole world, and as soon as you get caught your ISP (internet service provider) will shut you down and tell you to clean it.

And cleaning a system that requires boot keys is going to be endlessly entertaining. Seeing as how it requires you to wipe it down and reinstall the operating system from scratch. Oh , you don't have an operating system disk the manufacturer charges you 100$ extra for that and you decided you didn't need it ?

Oopsie. Hope you didn't pay too much for that computer. Toss it in the trash now.

I have a cheap lap top. It has no graphics card. It can't play games. It came with windows 7. It came with huge massive Windows Seven on a tiny little lap top with a slow processor and 2 gigs of ram, making it the slowest lap top in the universe.

I erased windows 7 and put Linux on it immediately (Ubuntu , an easy user friendly version) and I never looked back. The only think Windows does for me is play my games. Give me a machine that can't play games , and Windows is of no use at all to me. Out it goes.

If you're guessing I will never own a secure boot (read that "vender locked : Windows Only , all prices just tripled oh you paid ? We're tripling them again") Windows 8 machine. I'll wait until either they remove the secure boot from it, or the operating system fails. and failure, is my bet.

Windows Vista Part Two : Another piece of trash hyped to death and allowed to die quietly when it is discovered no one likes Vender Locking. (That's where you deny the customer the right to shop elsewhere, so that you can increase the prices drastically)

"It's Just Not Right": The Failures of Alabama's Self-Deportation Experiment

"It's Just Not Right": The Failures of Alabama's Self-Deportation Experiment

Somethings about america never cease to amaze me. Like how an obviously bad thing coming to an end is portrayed as a disaster instead of a blessing. They're very good at that.

Most are paid as piecework—75 cents a bucket of potatoes, say, or a couple bucks per thousand chickens—and most of that piecework is mercilessly physical. Poultry catchers are expected to gather some 2,000 birds in an hour, while for pickers it's a matter of packing, say, 300 25-pound crates between sunrise and sunset. For the farmer, it's a necessity to keep skilled, reliable workers close at hand when profits are made or lost in the brief window of the harvest. This pressure bears down on the men and women willing to stoop and kneel and pick and haul and bleed in order to perform grueling tasks with awesome efficiency—and then, for many, to move on to where the seasons lead them next. And while anti-immigration arguments hang on the idea that if illegal workers were barred from these jobs Americans would eagerly fill them, Smith and other farmers say this doesn't square with reality. Cullman County is 93 percent white. Of the locals Smith has hired to replace the workers who fled, most lasted only a couple of hours he says, before they quit.

The jobs listed above are horrible jobs. For which the immigrants who do them get paid far, far less than anything resembling a minimum wage, assuming the USA actually has such a thing.

so first off , you're not paying a fair wage to these people.

Second off , you can't find replacements who arn't immigrants that can be abused into working for almost nothing.

and third off , you will now claim it is a disaster to your industry that you can't find people to work for literal , classical slave wages. Therefore bad things will happen.

You should never have been allowed to have a business that pays fifty cents a day (or whatever it is) to compete with everyone else in the first place. It's about time it was shut down. Consequences ? what consequences ? People can pay a real amount for their peanuts or do without , it's just that simple.

If records are kept , they will use it

Tori Stafford's dad disappointed at what jury didn't hear

The father of Victoria (Tori) Stafford is disappointed the jury hearing the case against the man charged with killing his eight-year-old daughter did not get the whole story about the accused.

Jury members who are now in deliberations over the fate of Michael Rafferty, 31, did not hear that the man who spent a lot of time surfing online dating sites was also searching for something much darker on the internet — child pornography. Some of the search terms he typed into his laptop computer were "underage rape," "real underage rape pictures" and "nude preteen."

Rodney Stafford said outside the London, Ont., courthouse on Friday that he disagrees with the judge's decision to exclude evidence that showed Rafferty's laptop computer was used to search and view child porn, troubling details that only came out after the jury was sequestered Thursday night.

On the one hand , applaud the police for catching this "sick puppy".

On the other hand... "Some of the search terms he typed into his lap top computer ..." Thats being tracked ? Yes. Tracked and apparently the prosecution tried to use it against him too. It's obvious why the evidence was dismissed (google at least tries to guess what you're typing and fills it in for you ... one wrong stroke of the enter key could take you anywhere) but still , it is fascnating that if you search for anything on the internet , records are kept. Indefinately , it seems. And the cops will supena those records if they think there's even a tiny chance they can be used against you.

As an aspiring writer, I'm pretty sure that anyone who goes through my searchs will be absolutely convinced I'm trying to build a nuclear bomb :) , so yes. I think there are serious problems with this sort of thing, and the judge acted correctly to toss the searches out.

Much as I feel for the parents of Victoria Stafford, you really want to throw the right guy in jail. Throwing some patsy framed because he did a few searches may make you feel good , but it doesn't really persuade the perpetrator to cease operations. In fact it generally emboldens him to try again.

Canada’s pro-life movement gets a slick, youthful rebranding

Canada’s pro-life movement gets a slick, youthful rebranding

They will fight to protect the unborn, raise their voices against abortion in Canada — and maybe win an iPod.

Pro-lifers will rally on Parliament Hill by the thousands Thursday for the March for Life, an ever-growing annual rally attended by, yes, older activists, but also increasingly by hordes of fresh-faced young people snapping photos, shooting videos and live-tweeting while hoisting signs saying “Justice for the Unborn.”

Let me paraphrase for these people , since they seem to have trouble expressing themselves in a clear and precise mannor.

I have a religious belief that not only I think you should follow , but I think you should follow it at your own expense. Otherwise, my religion says really really bad things will happen to you. And by the way my religion is right and every other religion is wrong and if you don't believe me then really really bad things are going to happen to you ... PS:Don't expect me to pick up the bill incurred by you following my beliefs.

There. That about sums it up.

Oh ... right to life ? Justice for the unborn ?

You realize that when a female child is born she has about six million eggs that could potentially become a child , but pretty much no one has ever had more than 20 in their life span ? And 2-3 is more average ? What about their rights ? Going to punish a woman for daring to spend time not being pregnant and thus killing off all those potential humans ?

Oh , the let nature take it's course argument. It already did. In places like the middle east if you're looking for a modern example, but looking at europe before the advent of birth control and the endless "summer wars" that were designed souly to get the soldiers killed off because there were just too many people in europe and you had to get rid of them some how ...

Ta Leme , Greece

In Greece

Unemployment in july 2010 was 11.8%

Unemployment in Jan 2012 was 20.7% (and it's still climbing)

It doesn't take much to see that raising taxes while unemployment is heading for the roof is a losing game.

It doesn't take much to see that freezing wages when unemployment is heading for the roof is a losing game.

It doesn't take much to see that as the value of your currency drops the profit margin for exporting junk vanishes and businesses go out of business. (You have to buy resources at an ever increasing cost)

It doesn't take much to see the game is over.

It is time for Greece to leave the European Union and go it's own way. Kicked out you say ? Or fleeing a sinking ship. The European Union isn't doing so hot either, and Greece will only be the first to abandon it.

Ta Leme (Good Bye) Greece. Though not really. Bet you fair better outside the european union than in.

EDIT : may 9th , Germany and France are offering to lend Greece more money anyways, so they can "service their debt" , while the election turmoil calms down. Huh ? So what you're saying is , you're lending them some cash so they can immediately give it back to you ? Ok then ... lets look at the definition of Bankruptcy ....

Mob Vs Cab : Cab wins

These drunken idiots decided to beat up a cab that had a few moments before asked them to get out ( probably because they were drunk. ) The results are about what you would expect when a 100 kg human tangles with a 1000kg piece of metal.

Idiots.

What the World has Learned from (Radical) Islam

With a neo-fascist salute and tears only for himself, Anders Behring Breivik goes on trial (Video)

Anders Behring Breivik , the far-Right killer who traumatized Norway by massacring 77 people, was finally forced to confront the cold reality of his crimes yesterday (Monday) when his trial opened with the first full account of his three hours and nine minutes of slaughter.

The fate of his 77 victims, 67 of whom were shot in cold blood on Utoya island outside Oslo, was disclosed in remorseless detail. The self-styled "Knight Templar" was also compelled to watch searing footage of the moment that the bomb he planted exploded.

And what have we learned from this ?

Unfortunately , what we have learned is that some idea's are too good to keep to yourself. Now everyone has been paying real close attention to afghanistan and Iraq , and remarking "wow , this has been going on for ten years. Those are really successful tactics those guys are using".

And they're being copied.

By every radical group and individual in the world. Anders Behring Breivik isn't even a muslim, he's a christian who doesn't like muslims. But he's happy to steal their idea's , obviously.

This mess is only getting bigger, mark my words. Next thing we know , the next time someone goes postal at the post office they'll be using these tactics , never even mind what various half wit religious fanatics of ALL religions will try with them.

Purolator lolcats...you can laugh , or you can cry.

did I mention the time I had purolator deliver a computer from dell for me ?

A week later , I have the monitor. The main box with the computer in it ... not sure as to it's location .

and this is two day delivery , 9 days later.

I think they deserve the above picture more than the cats do.

Credit-card robbers hit ATMs in 'tsunami' attack

Article

The pair fell under suspicion when a series of point of sales terminals were stolen from retail stores in and replaced with compromised ones in a manner similar to the Safeway thefts in the Lower Mainland.

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.

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A jury found he tampered with point-of-sales terminals at McDonald's restaurants in 2009.

It's scammer alert time again.

It seems that those little tiny debit machines at your corner store and McDonalds are getting stolen and replaced with evil clones that report back your private information to na'er do wells , who then empty your bank account.

after combing the story a few times, all I can see is it's the little terminals that they hand you at some store or another, not a big old bank machine. Apparently the bank machines are too heavy to replace with fraudulent ones.

so much for me whipping out the debit card at the drug store anymore.

As for McDog Foods being taken in , the less said the better.

Alternate Reality 1

Alternate Reality Episode 1

((double click to maximize the movie))

I found my old video editer (the free ware one I am so cheap) and I loaded Rift, which makes in game movies for you , and I decided I was gonna make myself ... a news cast !

Yes. From inside a game. Almost like I was standing in some kind of Alternate Reality.

Lets see how this goes .. at least I had fun making it.

Three times making it by the way. You tube is not kind to amature movie makers and likes to butcher anything that stands still. That's why certain still images are slowly crawling across your screen while I chat about them, in case you were wondering . ;)

Pope Benedict warns against gay marriage

Article

Pope Benedict XVI has denounced gay marriage in a speech to US bishops visiting Vatican City. The Pope warned of "powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage".

No no no. That not right. We need to re-write this title. How about ...

Unelected religious leader orders his lackeys to oppose elected governments decisions regarding human health. Religious texts cited as reason for dispute

Yes. That's much better. He's all in a kerfluffle because we're not doing what his religious texts say.

Of course there's a lot of religious texts out there, and they all say different things, and they all accuse each other of either being wrong , or being outright fabrications. So it's pretty obvious no matter what you do , some religion is going to be ticked at you.

Precisely why do we put up with this guy ? Oh yeah . He has no army. He's not a threat to anyone. So we just let him talk and then make fun of him. That's why.

Why do we put up with any religion , like , say Islam ? Oh yeah , they got activists and will come knocking on your door and kill you. Hmmm... I think I see now why our armed forces are visiting Afghanistan and Iraq. I knew there had to be a good reason somewhere.

An Iranian Poll

Article = none , personal opinion

Hello , my name is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , I am the supreme leader of Iran , and I would like to ask for your help in developing a western style poll to ask my people if we should develop nuclear weapons. Does anyone have any idea's ?

"Do you think we should nuke Israel, yes or no ?"

Umm, thats not bad, but I don't like to actually refer to them as an actual nation. We more or less believe they're squatters who've taken Islamic land. We prefer the term Zionist Entity.

"Do you think we should nuke the Zionist Entity ? Yes or No."

Now that you mention it , the ZE isn't acting alone. They seem to be getting a lot of support from the United states. Which we like to call The Great Satan.

"Do you think we should nuke the Zionist Entity and their backers The Great Satan ? Yes or no."

And we prefer to call our nukes "cleansing holy fire" not nukes. Even though we stole the technology from the west. Speaking of which , the western nations back the ZE too don't they ?

"Do you think we should cleanse with holy fire the Zionist Entity , their backers the Great Satan ,and all the western nations ? Yes or no ?"

And you know we are of the Twelver Shia branch of Islam, and while the prophet mohamed praise be his name orders us to stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers in Islam , they're disobeying that edict. Seems they're a little nervous about us getting nukes , I mean cleansing holy fire, so I think we should add them to the list.

"Do you think we should cleanse with holy fire the Zionist Entity , their backers the Great Satan ,and all the western nations , and any Islamics not of our particular branch of Islam ? Yes or no ?"

And it seems there are some Twelver Shia beleivers out side of our glorius nation that don't agree with that as well. So we should add them to the list. and ... I hate to do this , but does it have to be a yes or no poll ? Can it be yes and dang yes ? How about yes and certainly ?

"Do you think we should cleans with holy fire everyone outside of the borders of Iran irrespective of race or creed or religion ? Yes, Dang Yes , or most Assuredly Yes ?"

Hmm... actually , thats just about perfect. Thank you for your help.

-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I'm Not Faking it , Dad !

"I'm Not Faking it , Dad"

"Brad. You realize these tests are going to cost us thousands of dollars ,right ? And Insurance only covers part of that ?"

"I'm Not Faking it , Dad, I'm not faking it !"

- Greys Anatomy, Season 6, Episode 13

It's a standard plot line. Greys Anatomy , House, even back to old medical drama series in the seventies. No medical insurance. Can't afford anything. Look at all the trouble we have.

Sometimes I think the medical establishment in the USA bribes the producers of these shows to put that plot line in on a regular basis.

I didn't used to think that , you know. Until I worked for a company that was outsourcing AT&T calls, and while tests were running ,or while the internet was slow looking something up , we would chat, and I would ask how much are they paying for health insurance ?

These people pay more for health insurance than I pay for rent.

How can they afford this ?

And I look at my favorite medical shows, with the weird plot line about health insurance that means nothing to me because I live in Canada , and we basically have unlimited health insurance that covers everything non-trivial forever and never runs out, and I wonder.

These shows are a warning sign arnt' they ? Pay the medical Insurance Companies their pound of flesh or you will deeply regret it.

America sucks.

Its the land of the young ,because they let all the sick old guys die off.

The Evil of High Speed

Now what could possibly be evil about high speed internet ,

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/27/stephen-harper-dismisses-oppositions-sweeping-allegations-of-tory-wrongdoing-in-robocall-scandal/

, I foolishly ask , as I hit a web page with four static large static pictures vaguly related to the news article it's hawking , and one high quality video advertisement that starts playing before the rest of the page is even loading. The actual news article consisted of some text and two medium quality pictures.

Yep. Full video. On most every page these days. And not for the article you're reading , but for an advertisment to sell you stuff.

Why ? because on average people have pretty high internet , so lets use up all that speed by spamming them with advertising . Why not. And those that don't have speed, well , the advertisers are pretty happy to kick you off the internet and demand you get a connection that can handle all their advertising. You're absolutely no use to them at all if you can't see their ads.

Just who's internet is this anyways , I foolishly ask.

Mine ! Say all the advertisers. Get a real connection or get lost !

So , there's a new connection coming out in the united states, really high speed compared to the current connections. You think that will do ?

For a little while. Until we make bigger and bigger advertisements.

Are you feeling robbed yet ? I am.

I need a browser add on that refuses to play video's until I say so. Thats what I need.

EDIT I'm on firebox. got an addon called Flashblock , that blocks all flash animations (such as those ads that play whole movies ) until you click on them, thus you can see the ads anyways if you really want (or the youtube videos , without them annoyingly starting on their own ) Suddenly I browse the internet so much faster.

Just how much flash is on these pages ? My browser was slow as a cow before this ???

Googlighting

This is just hysterically funny.

Microsoft made this as a virial advertisement , and it's a fascinating glimpse at the future.

Note the part where the prospective employee (named Google) admits his software will change at will while the users are using it. This is panned as a bad thing , bad google bad ! But no mention is made that microsoft products routinely do this (remember those annoying nightly updates , and once a year or two years they'll actually break every computer in your office all at the same time ? And then the IT people go insane for a while ? )

It's worth watching just to see the dirty tricks and the mud it slings at google.

PS: Why is anyone using online word processors and spread sheets when Open Office will give you the stuff for free ? No internet connection required ?

Fraudulent election calls traced to Edmonton firm with Tory links

Transcript of a bogus call sent to a voter in Guelph on federal election day, May 2, 2011.

“This is an automated message from Elections Canada. Due to a projected increase in voter turnout, your poll location has been changed. Your new voting location is at the Old Quebec Street Mall, at 55 Wyndham Street North. Once again, your new poll location is at the Old Quebec Street Mall, at 55 Wyndham Street North. If you have any questions, please call our hotline at 1-800-443-4456. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

This wins my thumbs up for creativity. They got themselves a copy of Liberal supporters and then directed them to the wrong address so they couldn't vote. Social Engineering goes main stream , to be sure. What a great way to leverage the spammer ability to phone 100 000 people in a day.

The problem is it didn't work , the Conservatives still lost in that riding. Why ?

Who the heck even picks up the phone with an unknown caller these days ? Every spammer in the world is trying to call you all day and all night. Do you know how many times my wife's phone rings during a single day and it's that triple ring that tells me it's long distance (we don't know anyone out of the city so we automatically know a triple ring is a spam call)

Who the heck even has voice mail these days ? I turned it off on my phone because the spammer machines were happy to leave long , long messages (long enough to be cut off by the time limit) on my phone that I had to listen to before I could delete them , and my friends never bothered they knew I'd see their number on call display. Bye bye voice mail.

I don't even answer my cell phone anymore if it's an unknown caller, the spammers have been hitting that too. I aint paying 25 cents a minute to listen to an automated recording try and sell me something.

Welcome to the age of the white list. If you're not in my contacts list , I ain't picking up.

Spymaster Google

Google's Safari Tracking Debacle: Reality Check

Google reportedly breached the privacy of millions of Apple Safari users by fooling the web browser into accepting tracking cookies it normally wouldn't take. Google, however, says this is an unhappy accident and that Google never intended to track its users in this manner.

Unhappy Accident. Interesting excuse.

It's a classic case of he said, she said. Here's what's going on.

Apple's Safari is more aggressive by default than many browsers about blocking cookies that do not originate from the site you're visiting, such as cookies served by online advertising firms. These are referred to as third-party cookies and are used by most online advertising companies and common on major websites. Google got around Safari's privacy restrictions by exploiting a loophole that allowed the search giant to install a temporary cookie if a user clicked a +1 button embedded in online advertising, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

All you need to know is that a cookie is a piece of information they're storing on your computer for the purposes of them making a buck by showing you ads. And that they're doing it even though you've explicitly said "don't do that" (by way of setting your browser not to accept such cookies)

The trick, according to the Journal's report, involves sticking a hidden web form inside an online ad with a +1 button, similar to Facebook "likes," on it. If the user clicks on the +1 button, the web form tells Safari that the user filled out the phony form when in fact she or he had not, which allowed Google to install the cookie.

So what you're saying is that , by unhappy accident, you paid a team of programmers to circumvent the security restrictions of the safari browser so you could make money. That's , um , quite the accident. How does one "accidentally" order some engineers to hack a browser anyways ?

When a user appears to have explicitly interacted with content on a Website, Safari allows the site to install temporary cookies that are supposed to expire after 12 to 24 hours. As a result of this workaround, Google could then catalog a user's browsing habits for its DoubleClick advertising business,

And thus accidently get paid for this unhappy accident.

For its part, Google says it wasn't tracking people on purpose and only wanted to ascertain when a user was logged into a Google account. "We used known Safari functionality to provide features that signed-in Google users had enabled," says Rachel Whetstone, Google's senior vice president of communications and public policy, in a statement to PCWorld. If you were logged in, Google could then deliver personalized advertising and perform other functions, such as sending +1's back to a user's Google+ social networking profile.

Ah yes. Personalized Advertising. That's the part where you do a google search on chocolate chip cookies, and suddenly every ad you see for the next week is trying to sell you cookies. Not just google sites, but half the sites on the internet , because DoubleClick is a very popular advetising firm, and plants ads everywhere.

Google also emphasizes that its advertising cookies do not collect any personal information.

No , technically cookies are a piece of information. Pieces of Information do not collect information of any kind on you. The google servers that use those cookies, however , they blatantly do. I love the wording in that non-denial of a denial.

Google has also deleted language from one of its privacy policy pages that appeared to contradict its tracking practices as detailed by the Journal. Google allows you to install a browser cookie that tells the search giant not to store your browsing habits for online advertising purposes.

..

..

..

The text on the page used to read: "While we don't have a Safari version of the Google advertising cookie opt-out plugin, Safari is set to block all third-party cookies. If you have not changed those settings, this option effectively accomplishes the same thing as setting the opt-out cookie." Google has since removed that language from its site, but PCWorld was able to find the language in a cached version of the page dated February 14.

And in other, unrelated Unhappy Accidents , all of the statements google made in it's privacy policy promising not to track you and spam you to death with unwanted advertising mysteriously were erased. How Odd.

Installing third-party tracking cookies on your browser is common practice for online advertising companies. Your browsing information is then mined so the sites serve up targeted advertising that, in theory, you are more likely to click on.

It does sound a little goofy and tin hat like to call this sort of thing mind control , doesn't it ? But it is what they are aiming for , even if they're not there yet. Buy my product , not his. Not because my product is better, but because my advertising is better.

Thats not how the world is supposed to work.

The New Business Model

Montreal telemarketing outfit accused of fraud still calls

"When the phone rings I actually get nervous. Because I don't like to get yelled at," said Unruh.

Unruh said ETS sent her dramatically overpriced cash register paper that she never ordered.

She said the company refused to take the product back, and has been harassing her for a year and a half to pay for it, sometimes calling five or six times a day.

"Very rude and very insistent that I get it together and pay my bill," said Unruh.

Welcome to the new century.

Today we will discuss the new business model made popular in this age of the internet due to the ability to buy phone numbers in bulk online.

It's basically phoning people up and yelling at them. Several times a day.

Phone you up and demand you pay for something you didn't order. Something you didn't receive. Maybe you declared bankruptcy and they're still harrassing you about stuff that was actually covered by the bankruptcy , and they don't care.

Bell Canada sent me a dsl modem. They'd phoned me up and asked if I wanted the free 90 day trial, I said no , and the modem arrived anyways. I refused to accept the modem (it had been the second time around and the first time cost a number of hours work and a lot of running around to return it) . It was still two hours on the phone cancelling it.

Question : Do you have two hours to spend cancelling something you didn't order ? What happens if this practice becomes wide spread ? Do you have four or eight hours or more , a day , to spend on hold with various cancellation departments , cancelling stuff you never asked for. You understand cancellation departments don't want you to cancel. Making you wait an hour on hold is only the beginning of the dirty tricks they will play on you.

Did I mention Bell Canada already had my credit card information when they sent me the modem ? Dell gave it to them when I bought a computer off of them. So I had no choice but to waste two hours on hold with their cancellation department, or they would have signed me up with a three year contract for a service I had no use for and no desire for , and actually said no to.

Welcome to the new century.

Cloud Computing Made Simple

Article = none, personal opinion.

What is Cloud Computing ?

Cloud Computing is the act of putting 10 gigabytes of data on the internet, usually in some other country such as the United States , where it takes forever and a day to access , meanwhile your brand new hundred dollar Terabyte (1000 gigabytes) back up drive sits on the shelf unused.

Who Needs Cloud Computing ?

Cloud Computing is needed by morons without a high school education who don't have the wit to buy a 16 port router and plug all their computers into it. (Windows and Mac machines will self configure themselves at that point, no programming required). They are afraid of computers , terrified even , and despite running a business worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars can't be bothered to spring for a couple of cheap 100$ computers and try it out for themselves.

What are the Challenges of Cloud Computing ?

Since the only one to use Cloud Computing are the ones afraid of computers, the biggest challenge is that they probably didn't bother to hire some guy with even minimal technical skills. Which means every con man and snake oil salesman out there is going to take them for a ride, and they're going to blow thousands and thousands of dollars on worthless trinkets that do absolutely nothing for them. Then they're going to stand there and say "Why the **** did I buy all this junk in the first place ? " and toss it all in the trash , and vow never to touch a computer again.

Then they'll go bankrupt because the guy next door actually hired some kid out of high school who's a computer nerd, not even a real technician , and therefore has a serious advantage over him.

Who should use Cloud Computing ?

Pretty much no one. Take a computer course or two at your local high school , or just hire a high school graduate who has a home computer and likes to talk about it a lot. (Listen for the words "online games, Em Em Oh , Wow , star wars") .

I've heard horror stories about people losing all their data

Yes. That's why you hire a reliable employee , not one who's late all the time or one you catch playing computer games on the company machine. It's your equipment , not theirs, and unless you're runing a gameing shop thats a firable offense and you should be quick to fire them over it.

What about my employees being on face book all the time ?

There's not much you can do about them being on the internet on their own cell phones. But your business network shouldn't have any internet so they shouldn't even be able to have internet access.

What about my email ?

Get a blackberry or other smart phone for that. Your office network shouldn't be connected to the internet unless you have very technical people on staff. Virus's , trojens, people surfing facebook all day , it's quite the nightmare. At best you should have a single computer for your own use in your office hooked up to the internet ,and it shouldn't be hooked up to the network at all. if you need access to your internal network , have a second computer and use a thumb drive or data stick to move data back and forth.

What if I need internet access for my business ?

Then you need a computer tech on staff, at least part time. Because you've openned the door to being hacked , to virii , and to your staff chatting with their friends all day instead of doing their work , and that needs to be tightly controlled. And it's a full time job. Be certain to examine the option of just having one or two computers isolated from the rest of the network for that purpose before you open up the whole network to the world wide web and the dangers that it entails.

Conclusion

Cloud computing is an attempt to put all the problems and technical support "in the cloud" or on the internet , so that you don't have any in house technical costs. Unfortunately , they aint giving you a free ride, they want their money too. And you are now placed in the position of a con man trying to take you for a ride, and you having no one on staff to tell you "Hey man , he's ripping you off you know". Sorry, but you gotta suck it up. You need one person on staff who knows accounting , so your book keeper doesn't rob you blind, one person who knows computers so your computer company doesn't rob you blind, etc etc. Your best hope is to get people with multiple skills (book keeper and reasonably computer savvy) not going without.

OMG Housing Prices are still dropping the government has to do something !

Mortgage Plan Gives Homeowners Bulk of the Benefits

And now for something completely slanted.

And you thought communism was bad.

After months of painstaking talks, government authorities and five of the nation’s biggest banks have agreed to a $26 billion settlement that could provide relief to nearly two million current and former American homeowners harmed by the bursting of the housing bubble, state and federal officials said in Washington on Thursday.

Ok. Nice and neutril. Very diplomatic. Doesn't say anything about the famous dishonest tactics of salesmen selling homes to people they know can't afford it and knowing the government will pick up the bill.

It is part of a broad national settlement aimed at halting the housing market’s downward slide and holding the banks accountable for foreclosure abuses.

Housing markets downward slide. and the banks own most of those houses that were foreclosed on. I can just see the american bankers "OMG the prices are still dropping we're gonna be taken to the cleaners you have to do something !!!!"

Umm... yeah. Ok. You already sold those houses, you already got paid for them from the government in this Freddy Mac Fannie Mae business when they underwrote the mortgage. And now you're going for the extra of now getting paid twice for those houses.

Capitalism at it's finest. Switch a few words around , a quick re-write here and there, and it all sounds like the banks and even the public are being bailed out of some kind of natural disaster. Instead of the real situation of the banks being handed even more money on the american tax payers dime.

UPDATE : Here in Ottawa , an hour or so after I wrote this blog entry , I got onto the bus for an appointment. And there in the newspaper the pretty girl next to me was reading was this big huge advertisement , a call to investors to invest in California Mortgages ...

Yeah , invest in a house in another country that was abandoned several years ago. If anyone's actually living in it , it's squatters. And they probably trashed the place. How much does it cost to personally inspect a house in a forien country that gives people a serious hassel if they try and cross the border these days ? Gonna rely on pics only and the word of a real estate agent that only gets paid if they make a sale ?

Can I sell you this lovely bridge , here in Brooklyn ?

Statisticians eager for new Canadian census data

Statisticians eager for new Canadian census data

For the United Church of Canada, the census data has been the backbone of a massive project to revive and grow its congregations.

From the 2006 census, church executives knew that 3 million Canadians identified themselves as affiliated with the United Church. But they could only track about 500,000 of them showing up on any given Sunday.

A church is using this data go increase it's congregation. I gotta ask. Is this a good thing or a bad ? Is it an abuse of the statistics ? Isn't there some kind of law about church and state being seperate ?

Businesses often rely on census-related data to figure out where to expand, and even what kinds of goods and services to carry. That's because the census has key information about population diversity and immigration, said Doug Norris, a former senior census official with Statistics Canada who is now the chief demographer for Environics Analytics.

And heres the real problem I have with the whole census thing. We get enough junk mail and advertising in our mail box , in our email , flyers on our door , if it was anyone else we'd be suing them for harrasment. These people are openly hiring psychologists and boasting loudly that they are searching for when we are weakest so they can trick us into buying their products.

Why are we being forced to help them ? Why do they even have access to this data ? Why are we helping those who treat us like chattel and seek only to lead us to the slaughter house so they can make a fast buck ?

This government data has no business being shared with anyone outside the government. No churches, no businesses, no private organizations that claim they're here to help but really will act as a back door to sell everything for a fast buck to support their "cause" .

Transplant jaw made by 3D printer claimed as first

Article

This artical details how they made a titanium jaw custom for a particular patient with a three dimensional printer.

Which is interesting, because once you start finding real uses for a technology , like 3D printing , it tends to snowball until it falls below the 1000$ mark and half the population has one in their home.

Which raises copy right debates.

Which is what I'm worried about.

I really have no intention of making a 3D copy of the Mona Lisa and hanging it on my wall. But if I get a 3d printer that can , say , make cheap clothing ,and I design my own cloths just for me to wear , I don't want the copy right police breathing down my neck.

I mean lets face it. When I buy a baseball cap , I really don't want it to have some company logo on it in the first place. I'd prefer a blank one. Guess what ? There are no blank ones. Anywhere. I've checked. If I can print off a blank baseball cap , I don't want copyright problems.

Ditto shoes, and oh that dining room table broke I need a replacement , and so on and so forth.

I can see making a big sticker of the flintstones and slapping it on the side of my computer might be a copyright violation ,and I have no problem with that, but I can also see that certain US companies are there to sink the competition, and if they can sink 3d printers entirely and force you to buy their junk , they will.

I'm saying we need to be careful here. And we definately need to watch out for copyrighters who want to copyright everything.

Or they'll make it illegal to use such things in the first place. And thats not in our benifit. Only theirs.

Hitler painting fetches 32,000 euros in Slovak auction

Article

"The painting has been offered for sale by an unnamed family of a Slovak painter who probably met Hitler personally when he was struggling to become an artist in Vienna during the early 20th century," Darte owner Jaroslav Krajnak said earlier.

"I look at him as an artist - in 1913, when Hitler painted this picture, he didn't know what would become of him in the decades to come," he added.

The auctioning house already sold a painting by Hitler from the same family collection last year for 10,200 euros.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/story.html?id=6069117#ixzz1ku5jLTAW

The interesting part of this story is not the story itself. Its the comments section demanding anything to do with good old Adolf Hitler be destroyed.

I respectfully disagree with that opinion. Why ?

Hitler is an important historical figure. And you can hardly start laying down policy and rules on how to prevent another Hitler if you destroy all information on him in the first place , can you ? You need to know how he got started in life, how he was twisted , how he went from an innocent child to a mass murdering (elected ...people keep forgetting he was elected by a majority of his country men no less) Chancellor (can't call an elected official a dictator ... well you can but it isn't true. ) And you can hardly do that if you destroy all the evidence , so to speak.

I've always found Hitler a fascinating figure, though not for the reasons the average person or the neo-nazi's would expect. The reason is ... if you ever download a copy of Mein Kampf , it usually comes with an appendix with news paper clippings of that era , and explains that Hitlers opinions were actually pretty mild compared to some of the opinions that got published in those newspapers.

Contrast that with every german complaining it was all Hitlers fault after the war was lost , and he was elected by popular mandate he wasn't a dictator ... maybe Hitler wasn't as alone as they claim he was. Maybe the populous that elected him actually knew what he was up to , and approved. Not so silently approved even , if those newspaper clippings are any indication.

Just an opinion of a man who's dead and gone before I was even born. But the evidence is interesting none the less.

My Take on the Greek Economic Crisis

Ok. It's actually really simple to understand.

The Greeks owe money. Far more than they are ever going to be able to pay back.

The Germans are being asked to pay the debts, or take the loss or whatever, because the germans were the most fiscally responsible, so they have the highest credit rating, and in economic terms they have the most cash because they worked hard for it.

Think about that a moment. You got a nice house and a car and everything ,and you worked hard for it. Many a long day and night. But now the neighbors want you to bail out the welfare bums down the street who spent the rent money on booze. And yes, neibhbors on booze isn't a bad analogy. People retiring way early in their life, over paid government workers , etc etc ...

So if you were the germans what would you do ? You'd tell them to go to hell.

Except you lent the guys down the street a hundred bucks. Hmm... not getting that money back.

Turns out everyone else lent those boozers a hundred bucks too, or more, so much so that some of them arn't going to be able to make the rent if they don't get paid back. So they're getting kind of desperate, meanwhile the boozer neibours are still drinking away , showing no signs of financial responsibility (ie: no one's likely to get paid back).

So whats going to happen ?

The boozie neibours are going to drink until they run out of cash.

They guy who lent them his rent money .... he's not getting it back. Him and his land lord will have words. If he's an over spending boozer , he's probably in trouble. If it was just a deal gone bad, he'll cut a deal , the land lord (probably the germans ) will take a small loss , and life will go on.

And the boozie neibours will get booted out. Look at all the trouble they caused.

Whats happening now in Europe ?

They're squabbling over who's going to take the loss. Everyone is saying "Not Me !" in new and creative ways, but guess what ? They're gonna take the loss anyways.

No taxation without representation. That means no forieners stepping in and taking everyone's money and giving them nothing. Britain tried that against america. That resulted in a rather famous tea party and a rather nasty war of liberation. Money isn't worth a war. We need to make that perfectly clear. Cut the Greeks off , but no going to war. Not for a few stupid dollars.

As a nation , one of the greatest corrective measures you have is to print more money. It devalues every dollar out there , but it gives you a wad of cash to pay off the people who lent you money. But the European Union denied themsevesl that ability ,causing this mess.

And they don't want to give it to greece now ! Greece will devalue it's dollar and pay everyone off in monopoly money.

Sadly , their choices here are bad , worse , and even worse than that. There aren't any good ones. Certain banks are going to the cleaners.

But it would be irresponsible not to fight tooth and nail against it.

And so the show goes on.

Lets Legalize Marijuana !

I think we really , really should legalize pot and Marijuana . Honestly.

Why ?

Because because people have a right to do as they believe ? No ... you have no freedom if you're addicted to some drug, that has been taken away from you by the drug itself.

Because it will cut down on the violence and the crime around it ? No ... the same logic applies for legalizing all sorts of really nasty stuff that will wreck you permanently for the rest of your life.

Then why ?

Because you lose 5% of your IQ every year that you're on it.

Think of it. All those idiot's getting hooked early , by the time they're 25 they've lost 50% of their IQ ... a see of Idiocracy ...

And guys like me who don't smoke have an easy time getting a job anywhere. Even if you're of average intelligence, you have an easy time.

How far does their intelligence have to drop before they become illiterate I wonder ? Hmm... the price for someone who can actually read and write could go sky high ...

Legalize Marijuana now ! Lets start dumbing down the competition so i can get a job easier !

Lets Block the USA from our sites

Don't Break The Internet Two bills now pending in Congress—the PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (Protect IP) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House—represent the latest legislative attempts to address a serious global problem: large-scale online copyright and trademark infringement. Although the bills differ in certain respects, they share an underlying approach and an enforcement philosophy that pose grave constitutional problems and that could have potentially disastrous consequences for the stability and security of the Internet’s addressing system, for the principle of interconnectivity that has helped drive the Internet’s extraordinary growth, and for free expression.

Basically , if some prosecuter in the USA accuses you of violating USA copyright law, they want to block your site. They want you to police your site for their copyright violations , and they want to shut you down if you don't comply.

Problem 1 : USA copyright law lets you copy right anything. This sentence can be copyrighted. The phrase "I hate Obama" can be copyrighted.

Problem 2 : There's a lot of sites that are nothing but users posting comments. These sites are free of charge, but now they have to pay people to moderate the comments and try and make sure no copyright violations take place ? Under the ridiculous usa copyright laws ? This is a straight cash grab that says only the USA is allowed to operate any such site everyone else can go suck wind.

The solution ?

Preemptively block the USA from seeing your site in the first place. That way you don't build up a readership that can be taken away from you at any time , that way you don't spend effort to produce something and then the USA just waltzes in and snags it and says screw you I'm suing you and you don't have the money for a lawyer to defend yourself so I can make the weakest dumbest argument in the world and I'll win.

With legislation like that , we should cut them out of the internet , not them cut us out.

Trust me. You will not miss the 30th annual Brady Bunch Rerun Convention. 30 times is plenty , it's time to move on to more domestic content.

In that respect the USA is rather like a drug dealer. THey get you hooked on their content , and then they raise the prices sky high.

Lets not get hooked in the first place.

Gay marriage a threat to humanity's future: Pope

article


Pope Benedict said Monday that gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family that undermined "the future of humanity itself."

The pope made some of his strongest comments against gay marriage in a new year address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican in which he touched on some economic and social issues facing the world today.

He told diplomats from nearly 180 countries that the education of children needed proper "settings" and that "pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman."

"This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself," he said.


Pope Benedict said Monday that being gay is bad. He knows this because there is this book that was written in 300 AD by a bunch of goat herders that lack the education of the average 8 year old in todays western society that told him so. The book contains many wild and unconfirmed tails of magical happenings that even the goat herders who wrote it and put it together could not confirm, they merely took oral stories and put them to pen and paper. (Council of Bishops 300AD)

He went on to preach doom and gloom , frequently referencing this same book, before an audience of people who's very careers and lively hoods were tied up in believing his every word or they'd have to go find a new job.

No questions were taken , and on the website where this artical was found , no opportunity was given to comment on the matter.


I have many questions. Like ,you know, human rights and freedom ? Over population ? Things like that. But no means was allowed to express them ,and no answers were provided to these common questions that are always raised on this matter.

Koyoto Accord

Wiki Entry



Under the Protocol, 37 countries ("Annex I countries") commit themselves to a reduction of four greenhouse gases (GHG) (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) produced by them, and all member countries give general commitments. Annex I countries agreed to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% from the 1990 level. Emission limits do not include emissions by international aviation and shipping, but are in addition to the industrial gases, chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which are dealt with under the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

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The only remaining signatory not to have ratified the protocol is the United States



Top-ten emitters

What follows is a ranking of the world's top ten emitters of GHGs for 2005 (MNP, 2007).[26] The first figure is the country's or region's emissions as a percentage of the global total. The second figure is the country's/region's per-capita emissions, in units of tons of GHG per-capita:

1. China1 – 17%, 5.8
2. United States3 – 16%, 24.1
3. European Union-273 – 11%, 10.6
4. Indonesia2 – 6%, 12.9
5. India – 5%, 2.1
6. Russia3 – 5%, 14.9
7. Brazil – 4%, 10.0
8. Japan3 – 3%, 10.6
9. Canada3 – 2%, 23.2
10. Mexico – 2%, 6.4



So. Why is canada so high , at 2% world emmissions but 23.2 rating for per capita ?

Because the whole measurement is slanted. It's including cow farts (no joke !) and biomass emissions (tree's rotting in the forest). The actual contribution by industry , the only part we can control ... is pretty slim.

It's also ridiculous that they're trying to control "natural emissions" (tree's rotting) in addition to industrial ones. And agricultural ones. You want people to stop farming ? Stop eating ?

Too many contradictions.

And on top of it all , we're right beside the worlds biggest industrial polluter and they refuse to sign the agreement anyways. And the stated reason is that it would hurt their economy to enforce pollution standards (ie: you go enforce it and cripple your economies, that's good for us)


This agreement sounds seriously broken . I doubt it's even particularly scientific.

Christmas Carollers

Christmas Carollers in the shopping mall. Authentic outfits.

Taken ... just because I liked it. Sorry , no political commentary today.

Passwords to avoid

25 worst passwords of 2011 revealed


Top 25:

* password
* 123456
* 12345678
* qwerty
* abc123
* monkey
* 1234567
* letmein
* trustno1
* dragon
* baseball
* 111111
* iloveyou
* master
* sunshine
* ashley
* bailey
* passw0rd
* shadow
* 123123
* 654321
* superman
* qazwsx
* michael
* football



out of personal experience, I would also like to add ...

* secret
* any variation of your birthday, husbands birthday , childs, etc
* your own name
* the name of where you work
* the name of the computer you're on



The "strong" passwords have at least 1 capital , 1 lower case , 1 number, and optionally one special character.


I always tell people , pick up a random book , fairly thick. Flip to about the first third no need to be accurate and stick your finger in the middle of the page. Pick the nearest 4 letter word, flip to the two thirds mark , about , repeat for another 4 letter word. Take the last digit of the page number and stick it in between.

If anyone can guess that password, we can just give it up.

Iran leader warns US, Israel against strike

Article


TEHRAN — Iran "will respond with full force" to any attack -- or even any threat of military action -- the country's supreme leader said on Thursday, after Israel warned the world must act to prevent Tehran getting nuclear weapons.

Iran "will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website.

Khamenei said the message was directed at Iran's enemies, "especially America and its stooges and the Zionist regime (Israel)."



Ok. So. "supreme leader" you're a dictator.

"respond with full force" is kind of the point. Your full force will be diminished by such an attack (you won't have nukes). Other than that you lost against Iraq before the Americans crushed it , no one is worried about your full force.

And you have declared America and Israel your enemies. Oh , the usual twist, you refuse to acknowledge Israel is a country , you call it the "Zionist Regime" instead, with Zionism being an insult in your culture. Lots of silly stories about Zionists kidnapping and eating babies I believe you keep telling and re-telling yourselves.




Iran, which has long denied any military thrust to its nuclear programme, responded to the report by saying it would not budge "an iota" from its atomic course and asserted its could confront any attack.


I still recall several stories where by this same Supreme Leader promised to , what was it ? Cleanse Israel from the earth with holy fire ? Yeah , it's a little too late to be claiming your nukes are peaceful after threats like that.

Conclusion ?

This is the same game the Americans have been playing for decades. Some pipsqueak dictator goes for nukes, is allowed to blow his nations entire wealth on one or two factories producing them, and then those factories are destroyed somehow. Boom, you're broke, and you have nothing to show for it.

Americans love this game. They're quite good at it.

If he had a brain in his head he'd try training up his troops and getting them more than one rifle for every three soldiers. Instead he's like a beggar trying to buy a Lamborghini on the cheap. You can't even afford to buy gas for the thing buddy.

Judge videotaped beating daughter won't be charged

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/11/03/judge-video-charges.html


Police say a Texas judge who was secretly videotaped beating his teenage daughter seven years ago won't face charges because the statutes of limitations have passed.



Wow. So much outrage. You should read the comments , some people want to lynch this guy. Maybe we should have a look at the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl9y3SIPt7o

Well one thing is for certain , this guy doesn't know how to use a belt. Have you tried hitting someone with a belt while their wearing loose clothing like those track pants ? It don't make that snapping sound. It only makes that snapping sound when the belt hit's itself. You'll notice the belt is doubled over.

Wow she howls like anything, but the moment it's over , around the 7 minute mark , she just gets up and walks around as if nothing happened.

When I was a kid ,and I got a whipping , my rear was actually sore after wards. Obviously this was not the case here.

OMG. I got out the big thick belt and smacked my hand and my leg with it. You can make it snap really really loudly , but it doesn't leave a mark on me. And I was bare legged when I did it she had track pants on.

This is sad.

This guy needs lessons on how to use a belt.

Tories bring down debate-limiting ‘sledgehammer’ on gun registry

Article


“We have seen a more excessive use of closure, a more excessive use of the sledgehammer,” NDP MP Peter Julian told the House as MPs debated the time-allocation motion in the Commons Thursday. He said the government is showing an “appalling level of arrogance unparalleled in Canadian parliamentary history.”


Loosely translated : You can't just pass any bill you like ! Just because you're the formally elected ruling party of Canada is no excuse ! You have to listen to us !"

Umm... that's not the song the liberals sang when they were in power, as I recall. In fact they pretty much did anything they liked and told everyone else to go fish.

Question : Is it right for the ruling, duely elected party of canada to bring in legislation that those who lost the election have decided they hate and despise ?

Survey says ... well... survey is a kind of election , right ? So we already know the answer is YES.

The globe and mail is in full force today with it's anti Conservative rhetoric. Maybe I like the conservatives, sometimes I know I sure don't , but an unrelenting mud slinger who simply makes up any lie , or cherrie picks the facts to make them say anything they like ... I have no patience for that. The Globe and Mail has made my list of slanted and biased newspapers.

Quebec denounces, Western premiers praise plan to enlarge House of Commons

Article


The Harper government’s plan to enlarge the House of Commons has touched a raw nerve with Jean Charest’s Quebec government, even as Western premiers praise the idea.

With Quebec marginalized within the federal Conservative caucus, and with the Quebec government also vowing to take the Conservatives’ plans for Senate reform to the Supreme Court, the risk is increasing of French Canada becoming more estranged both from Ottawa and from provinces to its west.

Umm... you didn't vote conservative, and they got to form the government. What precisely do you expect. Besides , your share by population is 23% , and you seem to be demanding 25% , according to this artical. Thats hardly "marginalized", thats "over represented".


But the new legislation could see Quebec’s share of the total seats in the House of Commons drop below its current level of 24 per cent, which is slightly above the 23 per cent that is province’s share of the national population.
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Veteran NDP MP Joe Comartin argued that any redistribution must ensure that Quebec receives a minimum 25 per cent of the seats in that House, its traditional share. The NDP is now the dominant party in Quebec at the federal level.



This is a fairly slanted article by the globe and mail, that doesn't seem to depend much on facts, just on people shouting I WANT I WANT I WANT ...at the top of their lungs.

If I was a cynical man , I'd examine NDP MP Joe Comartin 's demands under a microscope, noticing that he seems to be saying Quebecers are special and need to be treated as such. I'm sure that will go over well in other provinces where the NDP is trying to get elected. I'd point out that if he gets his 25% , he'll say it was because of his hard work and you should elect him. Or if he doesn't get it , he will blame the conservatives for failing to agree with him that Quebecers are so special. Better people than those in any other province, apparently. Either way , there's no upside for the conservatives, no reason why they should give him what he wants. And thus he isn't really working for the benifit of Quebec, he's just slinging mud. Oh wait ... I am a cynical man. Maybe I will say that.

Let me tell you the truth about growing the house of parliament , as the Liberals (now out of power) have lead this time honored practice.

What they do is they find some riding's with a large population and a history of consistently voting Liberal , and they cut it in half and now it has two MP's. Both of which are most likely to vote Liberal.

It's one of the many many dirty tricks the Liberals used to insure their domination. The so called natural governing party used a bag full of dirty tricks , it seems.

You can bet the Conservatives are going to balance that out by splitting up large riding's with a history of voting conservative. And you can bet is going to be left out in the cold for the next few years, another time honored liberal trick. You don't vote for them, they don't give you crud. No shipping contracts. No representation above the 23% minimum required by population, no nothing.

Quebec to fight Harper government on gun registry

Article



QUEBEC — The Quebec government says it's fiercely opposed to the end of the federal long-gun registry and will fight to keep using its data.

Public Security Minister Robert Dutil says the province will do everything in its power to keep the information.

Speaking at a news conference in Quebec City, Dutil refused Wednesday to rule out legal action among his options.

Quebec had already announced months ago that it wanted to keep using some kind of long-gun registry if the Harper government killed the federal version, as expected.

But this week Ottawa made it clear that not only would it destroy the registry -- it would also destroy the data compiled over the past decade.

"We know that the federal government, in the last (Conservative) election campaign, said it would abolish the resgistry," Dutil said.

"We don't agree with that but we learned about it during the election campaign. But they never said they were going to destroy the records.

"We are formally, ferociously opposed to that."

The registry was created at a cost of more than $1 billion in the wake of Montreal's Polytechnique massacre in 1989.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20111026/quebec-to-fight-harper-government-on-gun-registry-111026/#ixzz1bvHxcS6c



A billion dollars to keep a list of who's got guns and where ? And this thing started with an estimated price tag of 2 million ?

This is a Liberal Boondoggle, and they're milking it for millions that go directly to their coffers.

Much as I think the idea of a gun registry is a good idea, I don't fancy writing the Liberals a check for billions.

Shut it down , and let the provinces make other registeries if they like.

Struggling Wikileaks stops publishing classified files

Article


The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is suspending its publication of classified files.

Wikileaks said that it would focus instead on raising funds to ensure its future survival.

The announcement came after what the group called a blockade by US-based finance companies.

This followed its disclosure on the internet of hundreds of thousands of secret US government files and diplomatic cables.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that since last December an "arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade" had been imposed by Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union.


The interesting thing about this is the american love / hate affair with "Natural Law". What is Natural Law ? It is self evident truths that need no evidence or explanation.

Unfortunately , one of the things we learn from our 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan is that there is no such thing as Natural Law. Different cultures have different ideas of even the most basic ideas of whats right and wrong.

Americans love Natural Law, because it has no real definition , it's whatever they like. And they hate natural law, especially when it comes to wikileaks, because despite half the population of the western world disagreeing with them, they want this guy dead.

In other words, They follow Natural Law only when they feel like it, and toss it to the winds when they don't like it.

It is sad to see a democratic nation toss it's own principles to the wind the first time they get in the way. Sad sad sad.

Rest in Peace, Julian Assange. Like most great men who do great things, you will most likely pay the ultimate price for your heroics.

And it will dissuade no one from following in your footsteps.

ELECTRONIC ARTS PRIVACY POLICY

Article

One of my main amusements in life is to read contractual and privacy policies just to see how badly they are screwing you over.

Electronic Arts is producing a game called Star Wars The Old Republic, Due out Dec 20 of this year. And this is their privacy policy.

I warn you, this is bad.


When you use EA online and mobile products and services or you play our games on your PC or game system, we may collect certain non-personal demographic information including gender, zip code, information about your computer, hardware, software, platform, game system, media, mobile device, including device IDs, incident data, Internet Protocol (IP) address, network Media Access Control (MAC) address and connection. We also collect other non-personal information such as username, user ID or persona, feature usage, game play statistics, scores and achievements, user rankings and click paths as well as other data that you may provide in surveys, via your account preferences and online profiles such as friends lists or purchases, for instance. We may also receive either non-personal or public information from third parties in connection with market and demographic studies and/or data that we use to supplement personal information provided directly by you.




The MAC address (Media Access Control Address) is unique to your computer. So , they're listing personal information as non personal to begin with. And the list of items "includes" (ie: they may invent more) all the big ones they use to sell to advertisers to make a buck off of you.


We and third parties may also use tracking pixels, which allow us to advertise more efficiently by excluding our current users from certain promotional messages or identifying the source of a new installation.


Thanks for admitting up front you're making any advertising buck you can off of us.



EA’s websites, online or mobile products or services may employ third party ad serving technologies that use cookies, clear GIFs, web beacons, tracking pixels or other technologies to collect information as a result of ad serving through our products or services as well as to help track. Some third-party dynamic in-game advertisement serving technology enable advertising to be temporarily uploaded into your web browser or mobile device and replaced while you are online


Remember how you now have to pay for your bandwidth , and if you go over a certain amount they charge you extra ?

Yeah. EA reserves the right to rack up your bandwidth all they want for advertising purposes. They deliver ads and you pay to receive them. And we're talking multi-megabyte flash animations , not just little side notes here. Full video and all. Nice.


EA uses your information to fulfill your specific requests, purchase orders and to send you purchase confirmation and other account-related information. In addition, the personal information you provide will allow us to send you messages about things including new products, features, enhancements, special offers, upgrade opportunities, contests and events of interest. You may also later opt out of certain of these communications.

Translation : We mercilessly spam you for all we're worth to try and make a buck off of you.


Otherwise, EA uses personal and non-personal information, both individually and combined together, to better understand the behavior and preferences of our customers, to troubleshoot technical problems, to serve static and dynamic advertising, to enforce our Terms of Service, to ensure proper functioning of our products and services as well as to help improve them. In addition, we combine non-personal information with personal information, such as an email address, to administer loyalty programs, tailor our offerings, web pages or game play experience to you.


Targetted advertising. Catch you when you're weak , get you to buy something that's utter junk because they know you're into , say , star wars memorabelia. So they sell you a cool doll, or map , or book , and it's junk and falls apart a weak after you get it , and sorry no refunds thanks for the cash.


By playing an EA game through a social network or other third party platform or service or by connecting to such a third party network, platform or service via one of our products and/or services, you are authorizing EA to collect, store, and use in accordance with this Privacy Policy any and all information that you agreed the social network or other third party platform could provide to EA through the social network/third party platform Application Programming Interface (API) based on your settings on the third party social network or platform. Your agreement takes place when you connect with the third party network, platform or service via our products and/or services, and/or when you connect with, “accept” or “allow” (or similar terms) one of our applications through a social network, or other third party platform or service.
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EA will never share your personal information with third parties without your consent.


I love this combination. I see it everywhere.

They will never share your personal information without your consent. But by the way , by playing the game / using their product ? You consent to them doing this.


It goes on , and on , and on. But in the end the message of these terms is crystal clear.

They take whatever info they can. They use it however they like (usually to make a buck in advertising) and if you don't like it , get off the internet entirely because everyone else has the same terms and conditions.

Next time tells you "it's all spelled out in our terms and conditions" , you don't have to read them. You just have to remember "We do what we like and screw you buddy". It's much shorter and just as accurate.

Microsoft's Secure Boot Gambit

Article



1. Windows Secure Boot

Red Hat Engineer Matthew Garrett sounded the alarm bell this past week about Microsoft's plans for Windows 8. The upcoming Windows operating system will use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) secure boot protocol in an effort to make Windows 8 more secure.

UEFI secure boot will require Windows 8 certified hardware vendors to digitally sign their hardware with keys to ensure that only signed applications can boot. That's a move Garret warned could severely impact the Linux ecosystem. Linux users might not be able to install or boot Linux on hardware that has been Windows 8 certified.

For the lay man , what does this mean ?

It means that if you want to run Windows 8 or higher on your computer, your computer must be built to run windows only , no other operating system will be permitted.

For most users, this really seems pretty harmless. Most users don't even know what an operating system is , let alone that there are many kinds, not just windows. But there is a hidden cost to this decision , that will hit them in the pocket book.


For technicians who know what they're doing , it means you will no longer be able to take a second hand machine and load it up with Linux. It will be locked to windows only. This is obviously intended to kill the Linux operating system , which is currently competing with Windows in many fields (databases, word processers etc) .

The part where you're locking out the competition is the part I was talking about for hidden costs. Now they can raise the prices and there's not much you can do because they have a monopoly.

However, I believe this will fail on several counts.

First you are enforcing a monopoly. You're not permitting people to put whatever operating system or software they like on their property. Thats not going to survive. Whatever copyright law that exists that enforces that is going to get altered after storm of public outcry.

That would be like saying you can only buy gas for your car at a special gas station , and no where else. And by the way the prices at the special gas station are triple that of anywhere else. Just because they can.

Second , you can't sue someone without actually being harmed by them. If I break the encryption on your hardware and put linux on my computer , I already paid for windows long long ago , you havn't been harmed by this action, you cannot sue.

This runs into problems with recent copy right legislation whereby breaking any digital lock , no matter how weak , is a crime. But I can see and end run around it (you broke the lock on your own door ? Who cares ? )

Again , a public outcry and you can bet any copy right legislation is going to be altered to allow you to do whatever you like with property you bought and paid for.

Third, microsoft already has one failed operating system. Vista. Flew like a lead brick. People wanted nothing to do with it, they wanted their XP machines, they just left it to die. People didn't want the new operating system and the limits it imposed under any circumstances. Sales dropped through the floor, and microsoft , starved for cash , had to relent.

They are risking the same fate with Windows 8 .

There is an upside to all of this.

More and more people are hearing the word Linux, and asking a few questions here and there. At least they know it exists now , instead of the strange attitude that all computers are windows computers.

An attitude they will lose when the price skyrockets.