http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/06/26/mind.reading.pcs.reut/index.html
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A raised eyebrow, quizzical look or a nod of the head are just a few of the facial expressions computers could soon be using to read people's minds.
An "emotionally aware" computer being developed by British and American scientists will be able to read an individual's thoughts by analyzing a combination of facial movements that represent underlying feelings.
Not quite mind reading , but still , pretty good. Can you control a mouse with that ?
He and his collaborators believe the mind-reading computer's applications could range from improving people's driving skills to helping companies tailor advertising to people's moods.
Stop !!!
You're going to read my mind and determine how best to SPAM me ??? This verges on mind control you understand. Subliminal Advertising has been illegal for a long time, but it seems we're now going for a new, high tech version of this.
"Our research could enable Web sites to tailor advertising or products to your mood," Robinson told Reuters. "For example, a Webcam linked with our software could process your image, encode the correct emotional state and transmit information to a Web site."
You're going to read my mind , and then tell any random business man or advertiser what I'm feeling, people notorious for breaking rules, and laws, in the persuite of profit ? This is what you plan on doing with your brand spanking new mind reading device ?
Hey ! The guy on channel four is thirsty ! Break out the beer ads ! Channel Six is hungry, break out the McDonalds High Transfat heart attack special ads, those things pay us the most ! Channel 7 the soon to be illegal viagra ads, we gotta move that stuff out before they discover it causes heart attacks and ban it ...
(edit)
Oh yeah , bandwidth issue !
you're going to take bandwidth from me , that I pay MY ISP for , so that you can read my mind and determine how best to spam me to death. You're going to make ME pay for your spam , in other words, AND you're going to make ME pay for YOUR breach of privacy.
Because Breach of Privacy is exactly what this is. No one in their right mind is going to let you read their mind for the soul purpose of spamming them more efficiently. The only way this works is if you trick them into agreeing to it or simply don't tell them you're doing it. No one agree's to get junk mail now adays, and certainly no one will agree to PAY to get more efficiently targetted with junk mail.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Guantanamo
Article
>>The court found that the trials — known as military commissions — for people
>>detained on suspicion of terrorist activity abroad do not conform to any act of Congress.
You know, I've always wondered about that. Those guys, these "enemey combatants" are out to tear down the US and destroy it. The us constitution is a document on how a group of people (known as us citizens) can live together. Since these people do not seek to partake of this agreement in the first place, indeed they seek to destroy it and all parties involved in it, why are they being treated as if they were members of the agreement in the first place ?
I mean , lets face it , the law of the land is for citizens of the land , not for forien soldiers intent on destroying / conquering the land and making up thier own completely different law of the land.
>>The court found that the trials — known as military commissions — for people
>>detained on suspicion of terrorist activity abroad do not conform to any act of Congress.
You know, I've always wondered about that. Those guys, these "enemey combatants" are out to tear down the US and destroy it. The us constitution is a document on how a group of people (known as us citizens) can live together. Since these people do not seek to partake of this agreement in the first place, indeed they seek to destroy it and all parties involved in it, why are they being treated as if they were members of the agreement in the first place ?
I mean , lets face it , the law of the land is for citizens of the land , not for forien soldiers intent on destroying / conquering the land and making up thier own completely different law of the land.
$750-million transit plan is on the rails
Article
>>Even a candidate who wants to unseat the mayor in this fall's municipal election now
>>admits that construction appears inevitable. Terry Kilrea had proposed delaying
>>council's final vote on the project, scheduled for July 12, until after the election.
Are you out of your mind ??? do you know what the commute is like from the outskirts of town to downtown ? And you wanna cancel the whole thing and start over ?
I'm definately voting against you next time !
>>Critics say they still don't know the project's true cost. They complain that it's going in
>>the wrong direction, because the city's real traffic problem exists on an east-west axis, >>not along the north-south route planned for the new rail line.
The true cost will be 2.4 times any honest estimate of course, I learned that in school.
It's only going in the wrong direction if you're heading down town. I'd be very happy to go to Billings Bridge instead of the Rideau Centre if there was a fast way there. I aint locked into a particular shopping center and neither, I suspect, is anyone else. Put a fast bus there from here and we'll go !
And the East-west axis is handled by the existing east-west transit way , which will eventually become light rail itself , though maybe not for 10 or 20 more years ...you already announced that many times.
There is a certain amount of push pull by business groups of course (faster transit to my area means more money for me ...time to get out the lobbiests) but cancelling the project is an outright act of corruption after all this money spent (those in charge of the Rideau Center would be very happy for that , I assume , since it means their customers are not siphoned off down the north/south axis of the city, you can bet they're spending money to try and cancel the project)
As for anyone drinking at the public trough , there is a very simple solution for that.
Jail.
>>Even a candidate who wants to unseat the mayor in this fall's municipal election now
>>admits that construction appears inevitable. Terry Kilrea had proposed delaying
>>council's final vote on the project, scheduled for July 12, until after the election.
Are you out of your mind ??? do you know what the commute is like from the outskirts of town to downtown ? And you wanna cancel the whole thing and start over ?
I'm definately voting against you next time !
>>Critics say they still don't know the project's true cost. They complain that it's going in
>>the wrong direction, because the city's real traffic problem exists on an east-west axis, >>not along the north-south route planned for the new rail line.
The true cost will be 2.4 times any honest estimate of course, I learned that in school.
It's only going in the wrong direction if you're heading down town. I'd be very happy to go to Billings Bridge instead of the Rideau Centre if there was a fast way there. I aint locked into a particular shopping center and neither, I suspect, is anyone else. Put a fast bus there from here and we'll go !
And the East-west axis is handled by the existing east-west transit way , which will eventually become light rail itself , though maybe not for 10 or 20 more years ...you already announced that many times.
There is a certain amount of push pull by business groups of course (faster transit to my area means more money for me ...time to get out the lobbiests) but cancelling the project is an outright act of corruption after all this money spent (those in charge of the Rideau Center would be very happy for that , I assume , since it means their customers are not siphoned off down the north/south axis of the city, you can bet they're spending money to try and cancel the project)
As for anyone drinking at the public trough , there is a very simple solution for that.
Jail.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Police make arrest in murder of street kid
He'll get off.
Article.
Ottawa police have laid charges in the stabbing death of a young street person earlier this week.
Ricky Roger Hankey, 35, was arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree murder.
The charge is related to the death of Steven Beriault, 21, who was stabbed early Wednesday in a fight in the pedestrian underpass at the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive.
Why ?
Well, officer ! I was drunk , so I stopped by this underpass at 3am to take a piss, and then these 20 bums came out and started yelling at me ! It was self defence ! I swear ! There was a whole pack of them !
Article.
Ottawa police have laid charges in the stabbing death of a young street person earlier this week.
Ricky Roger Hankey, 35, was arrested Thursday and charged with second-degree murder.
The charge is related to the death of Steven Beriault, 21, who was stabbed early Wednesday in a fight in the pedestrian underpass at the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive.
Why ?
Well, officer ! I was drunk , so I stopped by this underpass at 3am to take a piss, and then these 20 bums came out and started yelling at me ! It was self defence ! I swear ! There was a whole pack of them !
The Evilness of the Real Player
My brother wanted to d/l some songs to his PDA, but it needed some special software, a so Called real player.
Ok I download it from the internet , try it out. Wrong version. Need the special version that came with his pda.
Ok, uninstall, forget about it.
Every now and then on boot up, I get advertising. Buy this ! What a great deal !
It's not excessive ...but it's got the same kind of frame and color scheme as the real player. And there's no way to uninstall it. In other words, hostile software.
msconfig, find the culperate. Remove the check mark.
Nope, next reboot it gets put back ! Not allowed to uncheck that box !
Pencil and paper, write down the file name and location , hunt it down , erase it.
Nope ! Not allowed to erase it ! The file is in use !
Task manager, look through the processes, not the program names, the processes. Find one with the same name as the file. End task on it.
Then erase the file in quesiton.
she's gone.
Oh , and the windows fire wall sucks. Why ? Because I didn't get asked if I want this program to access the internet, it was given permission automatically to spam me.
now I gotta get a real fire wall on top of this nonsense.
(edit)
I checked the windows fire wall , the list of exceptions , programs that are permitted ? It's not on the list. but it was getting through anyways. Odd, internet explorer is not on the list either but it gets through ...
Can you say "You are no longer in control of the machine ? Bill Gates is running this ride so fasten your seat and have your credit card ready ?"
Definately need a new fire wall.
Ok I download it from the internet , try it out. Wrong version. Need the special version that came with his pda.
Ok, uninstall, forget about it.
Every now and then on boot up, I get advertising. Buy this ! What a great deal !
It's not excessive ...but it's got the same kind of frame and color scheme as the real player. And there's no way to uninstall it. In other words, hostile software.
msconfig, find the culperate. Remove the check mark.
Nope, next reboot it gets put back ! Not allowed to uncheck that box !
Pencil and paper, write down the file name and location , hunt it down , erase it.
Nope ! Not allowed to erase it ! The file is in use !
Task manager, look through the processes, not the program names, the processes. Find one with the same name as the file. End task on it.
Then erase the file in quesiton.
she's gone.
Oh , and the windows fire wall sucks. Why ? Because I didn't get asked if I want this program to access the internet, it was given permission automatically to spam me.
now I gotta get a real fire wall on top of this nonsense.
(edit)
I checked the windows fire wall , the list of exceptions , programs that are permitted ? It's not on the list. but it was getting through anyways. Odd, internet explorer is not on the list either but it gets through ...
Can you say "You are no longer in control of the machine ? Bill Gates is running this ride so fasten your seat and have your credit card ready ?"
Definately need a new fire wall.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
The Microsoft Treadmill
Article
Microsoft releases eight critical software patches to repair vulnerabilities
NEW YORK (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) released eight critical updates Tuesday to patch security holes in its Windows operating system, Internet Explorer browser, Windows Media Player and Office productivity software.
The critical patches - so called because they address problems deemed to pose the highest threat in Microsoft's security warning system - all are designed to prevent an attacker from taking control of another person's computer without that user's permission.
Hmmm...Security is Job One. How long ago was it bill gates said that ? 5 years ?
5 Years , and the Internet Explorer is full of holes. No, I take that back. It isn't full of holes , it has precisely ONE hole and one hole only , active - x components. A hole he patly refuses to close, and viciously defends with copy rights and legal action against anyone who dares infring on it.
Meanwhile I'm sitting her using firefox , and before that Opera , and havn't had a virus or paraiste in almost 3 years (or more) , while he's constantly patching and patching the internet explorer, but refusing to shut it's one and only hole because it's making him money.
One has to wonder how much money businesses over the years have spent on upgrades and anti-virus programs , and then cleaning up virus's and trojens those programs didn't catch , because he sings a good song and puts out a lot of really cool bafflegab that sounds impressive.
Meanwhile guys like me on the ground who know better, who spend our careers making this stuff work , get constantly overruled or told to be quiet by ignorant managers who'd rather read advertising pamphlets than talk to the mechanics who make things go.
*sigh*
It's a self inflicted pain these people are inflicting upon themselvs. They deserve it. I keep telling myself that.
Microsoft releases eight critical software patches to repair vulnerabilities
NEW YORK (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) released eight critical updates Tuesday to patch security holes in its Windows operating system, Internet Explorer browser, Windows Media Player and Office productivity software.
The critical patches - so called because they address problems deemed to pose the highest threat in Microsoft's security warning system - all are designed to prevent an attacker from taking control of another person's computer without that user's permission.
Hmmm...Security is Job One. How long ago was it bill gates said that ? 5 years ?
5 Years , and the Internet Explorer is full of holes. No, I take that back. It isn't full of holes , it has precisely ONE hole and one hole only , active - x components. A hole he patly refuses to close, and viciously defends with copy rights and legal action against anyone who dares infring on it.
Meanwhile I'm sitting her using firefox , and before that Opera , and havn't had a virus or paraiste in almost 3 years (or more) , while he's constantly patching and patching the internet explorer, but refusing to shut it's one and only hole because it's making him money.
One has to wonder how much money businesses over the years have spent on upgrades and anti-virus programs , and then cleaning up virus's and trojens those programs didn't catch , because he sings a good song and puts out a lot of really cool bafflegab that sounds impressive.
Meanwhile guys like me on the ground who know better, who spend our careers making this stuff work , get constantly overruled or told to be quiet by ignorant managers who'd rather read advertising pamphlets than talk to the mechanics who make things go.
*sigh*
It's a self inflicted pain these people are inflicting upon themselvs. They deserve it. I keep telling myself that.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Fragman Needle
I'm drunk ! I won't remember this !
yes I will !
Ok, I'm supposed to take a fragman needle every day, because I had a pulmonary embolism, (blood clot in the lungs ) and they dont' want a repeat.
Normally I take it in the belly. Off to the side. I jab it in , I yell a bit , it doesn't really hurt but hey , yelling kills the pain why take the chance yell anyways ?
Well, I'm drunk , not supposed to feel the pain. Supposed to rotate sites, dont' use the belly all the time it gets used up full of bruises etc ...
Jab it (in the leg, not the belly) in forget to yell...
does it hurt ? Hell yes it hurts, definately more than I usually feel it. take a deep breath and start yelling... can't yell that loud I'm drunk that makes me tired.
Press the injector in , lets get this over with quick...
Oh boy do I yell now , and no I'm not covering my pain , I'm yelling becauise I'm *IN* pain ! ow that sob hurts !
finish it out and toss it in the sharps container.
Ummm... ok.
Do needles when you're sobre not drunk. Sobre, you can start screaming before it goes in and you know exactly where it goes to hurt the least ... you're wife complains your screaming gives her a headache but you dont' actually feel any pain. Drunk ... ow ! Ow shit ! that hurt ! Fuck .... I aint screaming for the fun of it ! Ow ow ow !
By the way , in case you havn't guessed...
I hate fragman needles.
Actually ... maybe I hate all needles of any kind.
I really do.
yes I will !
Ok, I'm supposed to take a fragman needle every day, because I had a pulmonary embolism, (blood clot in the lungs ) and they dont' want a repeat.
Normally I take it in the belly. Off to the side. I jab it in , I yell a bit , it doesn't really hurt but hey , yelling kills the pain why take the chance yell anyways ?
Well, I'm drunk , not supposed to feel the pain. Supposed to rotate sites, dont' use the belly all the time it gets used up full of bruises etc ...
Jab it (in the leg, not the belly) in forget to yell...
does it hurt ? Hell yes it hurts, definately more than I usually feel it. take a deep breath and start yelling... can't yell that loud I'm drunk that makes me tired.
Press the injector in , lets get this over with quick...
Oh boy do I yell now , and no I'm not covering my pain , I'm yelling becauise I'm *IN* pain ! ow that sob hurts !
finish it out and toss it in the sharps container.
Ummm... ok.
Do needles when you're sobre not drunk. Sobre, you can start screaming before it goes in and you know exactly where it goes to hurt the least ... you're wife complains your screaming gives her a headache but you dont' actually feel any pain. Drunk ... ow ! Ow shit ! that hurt ! Fuck .... I aint screaming for the fun of it ! Ow ow ow !
By the way , in case you havn't guessed...
I hate fragman needles.
Actually ... maybe I hate all needles of any kind.
I really do.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Lioness in zoo kills man who invoked God
Article
KIEV (Reuters) - A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.
"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said
You forget. God made the lions too, and watches over them as well, and sometimes throws them a free treat.
LOL !!!!
KIEV (Reuters) - A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.
"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said
You forget. God made the lions too, and watches over them as well, and sometimes throws them a free treat.
LOL !!!!
Friday, May 19, 2006
CNN snubs Canada
Canada took it's first female casualty this week since world war II, something that you think would be worth at least a human interest story on CNN.
Article
Hmmm...searching , searching ... nope. Nothing there.
Well..ok... maybe not that intersting.
Canada captured a Taliban leader. You know how the americans go ape over that and splash it all over their newspapers ....
hmmm...searching ...searching....
nope ... not there.
Article
so does CNN have any articles about ANYTHING canada did , good or bad ?
Searching ..nope ..nothing this week. Not a single one.
Sheesh !
No wonder no one ever heard of us !
Article
Hmmm...searching , searching ... nope. Nothing there.
Well..ok... maybe not that intersting.
Canada captured a Taliban leader. You know how the americans go ape over that and splash it all over their newspapers ....
hmmm...searching ...searching....
nope ... not there.
Article
so does CNN have any articles about ANYTHING canada did , good or bad ?
Searching ..nope ..nothing this week. Not a single one.
Sheesh !
No wonder no one ever heard of us !
Super Bloat Ware
I trade my DVD player to my sister for her old lap top , with the understanding that I can borrow it whenever i wind up in the hostpital again. since I have ..lemme see, two dvd players on this computer, one on the other , one in the living room... four dvd players at home , this seems like a pretty good deal to me. Especially since , with a lap top in hand , I probably won't care about a dvd player in the hospital anyways.
The lap top is ... ancient.
4 meg ram , 120 meg hard drive. No pcmcia ports , no phone modem , no network ports ... some kind of custom port on the back , probably predates the existance of pcmcia ports so you're never going to find anything that fits it. It has a floppy disk drive, and thats about it.
How did she get win95 on it in the first place ? I'm impressed.
I put dos 5 on it, and win 3.1 . Yes...yes... I know, my age is showing. Especially when you realize I have original disks for all of that. You're impressed ? I'm impressed, those disks only come with a one year warrenty and thinking back I think I've been carting them around for 15 years. And they still work !
This fills about 8 megs on my 120 meg hard drive. This ...is much better. Now it has room to manouver. I catalog my other disks.
Word processer , 2 floppys (about 3 megs) , spread sheet , the old quattro pro , is the same. An old database , not an ms-access knock off but a real one , Omnis 5 , also 2 megs. I recall an old version of dbase fits on 1 disk but I don't have it.
I'm now thinking of my sisters brand new lap top, with the latest ms-office. It requires several thousand megabytes , in effect , gigabytes , to do the same thing this old lap top could already do 15 years ago.
yes, I mean full color , spell checkers, relational databases not those stupid little one table ones everyone gives away but full blown ones that could actually challenge oracle databases, the whole nine yards. 15 years ago. Color print out's too and everything.
So ... her brand spanking new lap top can do..what ? That this grand old lady of a lap top can't ?
Thinking ... thinking ...
It can play mp3's. Poorly. Through low quality speakers.
The technical name for this , by the way , is "Bloat Ware", whereby you are forced to upgrade software and hardware to remain compatable with everyone else ... but the new systems don't actually *DO* anything more for you than the old stuff did.
15 years ... my how far we HAVN'T come ... lol
The lap top is ... ancient.
4 meg ram , 120 meg hard drive. No pcmcia ports , no phone modem , no network ports ... some kind of custom port on the back , probably predates the existance of pcmcia ports so you're never going to find anything that fits it. It has a floppy disk drive, and thats about it.
How did she get win95 on it in the first place ? I'm impressed.
I put dos 5 on it, and win 3.1 . Yes...yes... I know, my age is showing. Especially when you realize I have original disks for all of that. You're impressed ? I'm impressed, those disks only come with a one year warrenty and thinking back I think I've been carting them around for 15 years. And they still work !
This fills about 8 megs on my 120 meg hard drive. This ...is much better. Now it has room to manouver. I catalog my other disks.
Word processer , 2 floppys (about 3 megs) , spread sheet , the old quattro pro , is the same. An old database , not an ms-access knock off but a real one , Omnis 5 , also 2 megs. I recall an old version of dbase fits on 1 disk but I don't have it.
I'm now thinking of my sisters brand new lap top, with the latest ms-office. It requires several thousand megabytes , in effect , gigabytes , to do the same thing this old lap top could already do 15 years ago.
yes, I mean full color , spell checkers, relational databases not those stupid little one table ones everyone gives away but full blown ones that could actually challenge oracle databases, the whole nine yards. 15 years ago. Color print out's too and everything.
So ... her brand spanking new lap top can do..what ? That this grand old lady of a lap top can't ?
Thinking ... thinking ...
It can play mp3's. Poorly. Through low quality speakers.
The technical name for this , by the way , is "Bloat Ware", whereby you are forced to upgrade software and hardware to remain compatable with everyone else ... but the new systems don't actually *DO* anything more for you than the old stuff did.
15 years ... my how far we HAVN'T come ... lol
7:30 am and Ma Bell
My schedule reads 7:30 am start time tommorow. That's wrong. I've been trying to get my TL (team leader) to change that and he's being saying "yes , of course ,no problem , just give me a few minutes ..." for two weeks now.
Phone up work. Or try to.
Work just moved, a few months back , you see. Just AFTER the new phone books came out, so everyone has the old numbers , which are disconnected. Try www.yellowpages.ca , no luck.
Phone up ma bell, 411 (information , doncha know).
Automated computer answers. Speak the name of the city. Ottawa. Speak the company name. (censored) . One moment please.
Talk to a real person. Explain where it's located. She types a bit and says "Ok, here's the number. " And passes me to a machine !
the machine speaks the wrong number , of course, since I know the number begins with a 6 , and it gives me one beginning with a 2. and now you're out of hand the quarter for calling information, have the wrong number in hand , no way to call back and explain it all without being in hock another quarter, and ma bell must be laughing her fat a$$ off at the whole situation.
I eventually find the company web site, big multinational corp somewhere way down in the states, get someone from public relations to look up the number. finally , a number beginning with a 6 . Phone them up ...
I'm still starting at 7:30 am tommorow.
And now I owe ma bell a quarter on top of it all, for her giving me the wrong number. Oh , I actually phoned that number, hoping against hope. Some computer or fax machine or something answered, screaming electronically in my ear. I just hung up on it.
Phone up work. Or try to.
Work just moved, a few months back , you see. Just AFTER the new phone books came out, so everyone has the old numbers , which are disconnected. Try www.yellowpages.ca , no luck.
Phone up ma bell, 411 (information , doncha know).
Automated computer answers. Speak the name of the city. Ottawa. Speak the company name. (censored) . One moment please.
Talk to a real person. Explain where it's located. She types a bit and says "Ok, here's the number. " And passes me to a machine !
the machine speaks the wrong number , of course, since I know the number begins with a 6 , and it gives me one beginning with a 2. and now you're out of hand the quarter for calling information, have the wrong number in hand , no way to call back and explain it all without being in hock another quarter, and ma bell must be laughing her fat a$$ off at the whole situation.
I eventually find the company web site, big multinational corp somewhere way down in the states, get someone from public relations to look up the number. finally , a number beginning with a 6 . Phone them up ...
I'm still starting at 7:30 am tommorow.
And now I owe ma bell a quarter on top of it all, for her giving me the wrong number. Oh , I actually phoned that number, hoping against hope. Some computer or fax machine or something answered, screaming electronically in my ear. I just hung up on it.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Gun Control Games
Liberals misinformed parliament about millions spent on gun registry: AG
Article
We want gun control. Everyone does. Except the gun lobby who wants to sell guns , of course. So what do we do ? We make a registry so the cops can easily find all fire arms.
And it gets gutted to the point where it's almost useless. As this article says, all information submitted was strictly volintary , no one double checked anything.
And , lets make sure it sinks. Hire two computer firms , not one , but two , to do the same job, just to waste money and deliberately rack up the price.
now the gun fanatics who want everyone shooting everyone as long as they get to sell you the guns can claim how expensive and stupid the idea was in the first place.
It's not expensive and stupid. It was deliberately sabataged in the first place.
Now the conservatives get to try it again , while the people who deliberately sabataged the effort ride their a$$'s about how useless it is to even try such a thing.
And the voters who really want this thing just get hammered with costs for something the gun fanatics will make every effort to gut and destroy a second time.
It would seem we don't really live in a democracy. The will of the electorate seems to come last here.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Legal Summons
A knocking on my door, and a young boy , couldn't be more than 20 , showed up. Took my name down , had an official legal document for my wife.
Is she declaring bankruptcy again ? Man , I am so glad I refuse to co-sign ANYTHING with her.
Nope. She is being divorced.
Oh yeah , I remember this. After we'd been together five years, she abandonned me , ran down to the states and married some guy in order to get american citizen ship.
She'd come right back after he used her and tossed her away. I remember the idiot actually coming up here to visit after she'd returned to me ! In my own house ! I didn't treat him so hot. He thinks maybe to this day he might be a little pissed at me but thats nothing compared to how pissed I am at him for stealing my woman !
Anyways, she came back to me. And stayed married to him, still thinking she wanted that american citizen ship and this would eventually somehow get it for her.
Hmmm... she has thirty days to fight it from the day *I* signed for it, and she's out of the country visiting relatives right now. Wont' be back until twenty of those days are up.
Now ...
... where can I hide this thing so that she won't notice it for 10 days and it will be too late to fight it and she'll be stuck with me ? Hmmm... I think it just accidently fell down behind the fridge ...
Is she declaring bankruptcy again ? Man , I am so glad I refuse to co-sign ANYTHING with her.
Nope. She is being divorced.
Oh yeah , I remember this. After we'd been together five years, she abandonned me , ran down to the states and married some guy in order to get american citizen ship.
She'd come right back after he used her and tossed her away. I remember the idiot actually coming up here to visit after she'd returned to me ! In my own house ! I didn't treat him so hot. He thinks maybe to this day he might be a little pissed at me but thats nothing compared to how pissed I am at him for stealing my woman !
Anyways, she came back to me. And stayed married to him, still thinking she wanted that american citizen ship and this would eventually somehow get it for her.
Hmmm... she has thirty days to fight it from the day *I* signed for it, and she's out of the country visiting relatives right now. Wont' be back until twenty of those days are up.
Now ...
... where can I hide this thing so that she won't notice it for 10 days and it will be too late to fight it and she'll be stuck with me ? Hmmm... I think it just accidently fell down behind the fridge ...
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Aid block 'may ruin Palestinians'
Article
The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority...
A group that got elected by declaring it's hatred of all things jewish and having to do with the infidel west...
...will collapse in poverty and insecurity if it continues to be starved of foreign aid, the World Bank has warned.
So what do you want us jew loving westerner's to do about it ?
In a new report, it says failing to resume aid could "disable" the Authority and set back efforts to build a Palestinian state by "a dozen years".
Considering that the current state being built wants to shoot every westerner it can find and kill every jew in the world... I'm not seeing how this is a bad thing.
The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority...
A group that got elected by declaring it's hatred of all things jewish and having to do with the infidel west...
...will collapse in poverty and insecurity if it continues to be starved of foreign aid, the World Bank has warned.
So what do you want us jew loving westerner's to do about it ?
In a new report, it says failing to resume aid could "disable" the Authority and set back efforts to build a Palestinian state by "a dozen years".
Considering that the current state being built wants to shoot every westerner it can find and kill every jew in the world... I'm not seeing how this is a bad thing.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Accept war deserters, 'Peace Mom' pleads
Article
American anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan wants the Canadian government to grant sanctuary to U.S. army deserters.
Yeah yeah ! We'll harbor American Desterters on one hand , and on the other continue to send troops off to die in Afghanastan and Iraq !
Not going to happen.
"I'm just here begging the people of Canada to force your government — because your government works for you, …because your government does not work for war profiteers — to allow our soldiers to have sanctuary up here," she said.
Ummm.... nope. Sorry...
and uttering the phrase 'war profiteers' doesn't make it so. You still have 3000 casualties from 9/11 as I recall.
Trust me, if 4 guys with carpet knives and a willingness to sacrifice their very lives are incapable of keeping a secret , an entire INDUSTRY of companies, consisting of thousands and thousands, isn't going to be able to keep any conspiracy a secret of any kind. You are deluded in those accusations.
It's estimated 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. draft dodgers fled to Canada during the Vietnam War.
Vietnam is 1950's, it's now 2006. Those desterters , if they were 19 at the time, are now 75 years old. Are you thinking of drafting them too ?
Some people just can't let bygones be bygones.
American anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan wants the Canadian government to grant sanctuary to U.S. army deserters.
Yeah yeah ! We'll harbor American Desterters on one hand , and on the other continue to send troops off to die in Afghanastan and Iraq !
Not going to happen.
"I'm just here begging the people of Canada to force your government — because your government works for you, …because your government does not work for war profiteers — to allow our soldiers to have sanctuary up here," she said.
Ummm.... nope. Sorry...
and uttering the phrase 'war profiteers' doesn't make it so. You still have 3000 casualties from 9/11 as I recall.
Trust me, if 4 guys with carpet knives and a willingness to sacrifice their very lives are incapable of keeping a secret , an entire INDUSTRY of companies, consisting of thousands and thousands, isn't going to be able to keep any conspiracy a secret of any kind. You are deluded in those accusations.
It's estimated 40,000 to 60,000 U.S. draft dodgers fled to Canada during the Vietnam War.
Vietnam is 1950's, it's now 2006. Those desterters , if they were 19 at the time, are now 75 years old. Are you thinking of drafting them too ?
Some people just can't let bygones be bygones.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
"Do you mind if I have a seat ?"
Me and my sister were sitting at the starbucks (a coffee bar) enjoying a nice friday afternoon ( I work weekends, get some week days , like friday off ... sister is currently unemployed) when a 60ish woman came to our table and asked "Do you mind if I have a seat ?"
I'd noticed her around, doing the same thing with a previous woman, but nothing had come of it , no shouting or anything , so we let her sit at our table. It didn't take her long to start in on her sad tale of woe.
Her husband abused her, she didn't know where to go or what to do, a very sad tale. We advised that there were a number of womans shelters for such things , but no , she'd lose all her pretty things if that happened.
She didn't have any brusies or obvious marks on her , but my sister asked anyways , "did he hit you ?"
Dodged the question , and related to us the tale of how her husband called the cops on her , well yes she had blacked out and had a temper tantrum but it was all his fault he made her so mad. It was replent with details about the evil cops sneaking up on her , twisting her hand behind her back "I was just sitting there , honest ! " and dragging her down into the back of the police car. She spent 4 days at the royal ottawa , she relayed to us. All because he had a vendetta and could give a good song and dance to the cops and get her in trouble.
The husband showed up a little later. He was leaving. But , she'd hidden his cheque and he needed that. She was more concerned with what he had packed in his boxes, worried he might have taken her things. She showed no fear, only anger. She did not ask or beg, she commanded, she told him , she was going home and wanted to look in those boxes to make sure he wasn't making off with anything he shouldn't have.
As they walked away , I couldn't help but notice she was taller than him.
So... she was being abused.
And the first thing that comes to her mind is that she got arrested and stuck in the royal ottawa (a mental institute) because he'd made her angry enough that she'd blacked out and thrown a major temper tantrum.
The moment he'd shown up at the coffee bar , she'd transformed from poor little me to pissed off mama bear, just by the sight of him , he hadn't even said anything yet.
I keep seeing news articles about this "abused wife" syndrome. It ends with the wife killing the husband , going to court , and getting off scott free.
He'd mentioned he was only leaving for a week, but if he was smart, he wouldn't come back.
I'd noticed her around, doing the same thing with a previous woman, but nothing had come of it , no shouting or anything , so we let her sit at our table. It didn't take her long to start in on her sad tale of woe.
Her husband abused her, she didn't know where to go or what to do, a very sad tale. We advised that there were a number of womans shelters for such things , but no , she'd lose all her pretty things if that happened.
She didn't have any brusies or obvious marks on her , but my sister asked anyways , "did he hit you ?"
Dodged the question , and related to us the tale of how her husband called the cops on her , well yes she had blacked out and had a temper tantrum but it was all his fault he made her so mad. It was replent with details about the evil cops sneaking up on her , twisting her hand behind her back "I was just sitting there , honest ! " and dragging her down into the back of the police car. She spent 4 days at the royal ottawa , she relayed to us. All because he had a vendetta and could give a good song and dance to the cops and get her in trouble.
The husband showed up a little later. He was leaving. But , she'd hidden his cheque and he needed that. She was more concerned with what he had packed in his boxes, worried he might have taken her things. She showed no fear, only anger. She did not ask or beg, she commanded, she told him , she was going home and wanted to look in those boxes to make sure he wasn't making off with anything he shouldn't have.
As they walked away , I couldn't help but notice she was taller than him.
So... she was being abused.
And the first thing that comes to her mind is that she got arrested and stuck in the royal ottawa (a mental institute) because he'd made her angry enough that she'd blacked out and thrown a major temper tantrum.
The moment he'd shown up at the coffee bar , she'd transformed from poor little me to pissed off mama bear, just by the sight of him , he hadn't even said anything yet.
I keep seeing news articles about this "abused wife" syndrome. It ends with the wife killing the husband , going to court , and getting off scott free.
He'd mentioned he was only leaving for a week, but if he was smart, he wouldn't come back.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Online Games
Which Online Game is most fun ?
I have a selection of online games , mmog's they're called (massive multiplayer online games, or something like that). They all cost the same , 60$ to buy the game (when they first came out) and 15$ / month there after. I had reason to cycle through a number of them and I thought I'd write a review.
World of Warcraft
It's not bad. The rule system is unique and not based on anything else. Combat starts out relatively simple and grows progressively more and more complex as you level up. The first five levels are very rapid , you burn through them in an hour, and you can usually make level 8 or 10 on the first day , assuming several hours game time. Advancement slows considerably after that.
There are a lot of "solo" area's where you can just off monsters all by yourself , a fair number of fixed quests for you to run through , and instance dungeons. The dungeons will require you to party up you cannot really run them alone.
There is a certain difficulty factor that is unavoidable , that is to say if you stay in a low level area , you stop getting experiance. I think the rule is you still get xp if the creature is 5 levels below you , but not 6. And this goes up 1 every 10 levels (at 10th you can get xp of creatures 6 levels below you , at 20th , 7, etc) so you are forced to move on to higher level area's. Elite monsters in "instances" (dungeons that require a full party) generally insure that even a high level charactar that gets no xp from the dungeon will still have a very hard time in it...very hard and fruitless. Ah well.
The games crafting system is interesting and keeps some life into it. Fishing is a waste of time however, that was nerfed a long time ago, but you can make your own weapons and armor and such.
I would rate world of warcraft as a pretty good game, but I don't play it anymore because after a year you just get bored.
EverQuest
I have a new computer.
I must be the only person to have a copy of Everquest and have never played it because it would't run on my old computer. So I put it on this machine and gave it a shot.
Boring , and glitched.
first off, they want you to grind away killing rats and bats as a new charactar, in a combat system that doesn't actually inspire patience (press the auto attack button and wait... or if you're a spell caster there is some stradegy ... wait for the rat to attack , then hit the hot key for your spell and hope it doesn't fizzle.. it should go off before the rat attacks again. Blow the timing , and the rats next attack interrupts the spell).
This took about 1 minute to master and then it was just a boring grind. Gathered my 8 rats and 4 bats and 4 vermin nests I was supposed to kill, and returned to turn them in, speaking to the stated NPC.
She totally ignored me. Wouldn't let me turn in the quest.
And this is on a beginning quest that must have seen a million people go through it with their new charactars. Obviously this game is no longer being maintained.
After a few hours I decided the game was simply too boring, too much grinding , no way to turn in quests, most likely I would get stuck somewhere due to these glitches ... cancelled my subscription the very same day I had applied for it and uninstalled it.
Matrix Online
Charactar creation consisted of simply what does your charactar look like. As you progress , however , you load "abilities" into your memory that give you better and better combat abilities, or spell like abilities (viral attacks and what not .. the whole thing is very computer theme'd if you've ever seen the matrix movies) and of course there's the constant problem that while abilities are easy to come by (you can just buy them at various venders) memory space to load them is in short supply , so you're always fiddling with what you have loaded, what will fit.
Combat comes in two flavours, ranged , and hand to hand. Ranged you select a target , click on the gun or shot gun icon (depending on what weapon is in your hand) and you start firing until either you fall down or the enemy does. Not too complicated.
Hand to hand , is very complicated. You have a selection of attacks, like fast (more speed than damage) , power ( more damage than speed) throw , and block. You also have a special "head butt" abilitie that can only be used on a charactar that is stunned. Oh , your "fast" attack has a chance of stunning. So a beginner tactic is to use your fast attack until the opponent is stunned and then click on the head butt ability to inflict massive damage.
Later on this motief is repeated with special kicks and punches that only work when the enemey is off balance (a throw will leave him off balance) staggered, etc. This tends to make hand to hand combat fairly complicated.
Whats that you say , you'll just stick to ranged ? Sorry , works great at low levels by after a bit the enemy will charge you and force you into hand to hand.
Judging by the training video's in the introduction hall that all charactars go through ranged combat has it's own issues. Weapons don't have the same range, so if you can run fast and stay ahead of the enemey , you can pretty much get free shots off at him until he falls and defeat him without getting hit at all (I also noticed an ability with guns to slow an enemey down by 50% ...hmmm... )
There's a lot of "grinding" in the game (just killing over and over) but the combat system is complicated enough that that isn't as boring as you'd think.
There are also "missions" to be accomplished, and the missions advance some kind of story line that holds the whole game together. When your charactar gets pretty high level (I think level 50) there are "world events" for such high level's.
I see the threads of a crafting system for building your own equipment (you get to see ALL the abilities , even the ones you don't have , and definitions for what they do) though I havn't experimented with it yet. That's always nice.
Multi-class to a fair thee well.
Raise some cash , kill a few thugs, hit the venders. Buy up some "virus/ hacker" abilities, and suddenly your charactar switches from being a kung fu martial artiest to a virus zapping ranged "spell caster" type. Doesnt' work out too well ? You still have those kung fu abilities, just load them up again. Or try out healing for a while , or programming (you get to make a pet that fights alongside with you) and try that for a while. Tweaking exactly what abilities you will load, will you be all the way kung fu ? Or will you take just enough hacking to give yourself some self healing ? Is obviously going to be an art form unto itself.
I have a selection of online games , mmog's they're called (massive multiplayer online games, or something like that). They all cost the same , 60$ to buy the game (when they first came out) and 15$ / month there after. I had reason to cycle through a number of them and I thought I'd write a review.
World of Warcraft
It's not bad. The rule system is unique and not based on anything else. Combat starts out relatively simple and grows progressively more and more complex as you level up. The first five levels are very rapid , you burn through them in an hour, and you can usually make level 8 or 10 on the first day , assuming several hours game time. Advancement slows considerably after that.
There are a lot of "solo" area's where you can just off monsters all by yourself , a fair number of fixed quests for you to run through , and instance dungeons. The dungeons will require you to party up you cannot really run them alone.
There is a certain difficulty factor that is unavoidable , that is to say if you stay in a low level area , you stop getting experiance. I think the rule is you still get xp if the creature is 5 levels below you , but not 6. And this goes up 1 every 10 levels (at 10th you can get xp of creatures 6 levels below you , at 20th , 7, etc) so you are forced to move on to higher level area's. Elite monsters in "instances" (dungeons that require a full party) generally insure that even a high level charactar that gets no xp from the dungeon will still have a very hard time in it...very hard and fruitless. Ah well.
The games crafting system is interesting and keeps some life into it. Fishing is a waste of time however, that was nerfed a long time ago, but you can make your own weapons and armor and such.
I would rate world of warcraft as a pretty good game, but I don't play it anymore because after a year you just get bored.
EverQuest
I have a new computer.
I must be the only person to have a copy of Everquest and have never played it because it would't run on my old computer. So I put it on this machine and gave it a shot.
Boring , and glitched.
first off, they want you to grind away killing rats and bats as a new charactar, in a combat system that doesn't actually inspire patience (press the auto attack button and wait... or if you're a spell caster there is some stradegy ... wait for the rat to attack , then hit the hot key for your spell and hope it doesn't fizzle.. it should go off before the rat attacks again. Blow the timing , and the rats next attack interrupts the spell).
This took about 1 minute to master and then it was just a boring grind. Gathered my 8 rats and 4 bats and 4 vermin nests I was supposed to kill, and returned to turn them in, speaking to the stated NPC.
She totally ignored me. Wouldn't let me turn in the quest.
And this is on a beginning quest that must have seen a million people go through it with their new charactars. Obviously this game is no longer being maintained.
After a few hours I decided the game was simply too boring, too much grinding , no way to turn in quests, most likely I would get stuck somewhere due to these glitches ... cancelled my subscription the very same day I had applied for it and uninstalled it.
Matrix Online
Charactar creation consisted of simply what does your charactar look like. As you progress , however , you load "abilities" into your memory that give you better and better combat abilities, or spell like abilities (viral attacks and what not .. the whole thing is very computer theme'd if you've ever seen the matrix movies) and of course there's the constant problem that while abilities are easy to come by (you can just buy them at various venders) memory space to load them is in short supply , so you're always fiddling with what you have loaded, what will fit.
Combat comes in two flavours, ranged , and hand to hand. Ranged you select a target , click on the gun or shot gun icon (depending on what weapon is in your hand) and you start firing until either you fall down or the enemy does. Not too complicated.
Hand to hand , is very complicated. You have a selection of attacks, like fast (more speed than damage) , power ( more damage than speed) throw , and block. You also have a special "head butt" abilitie that can only be used on a charactar that is stunned. Oh , your "fast" attack has a chance of stunning. So a beginner tactic is to use your fast attack until the opponent is stunned and then click on the head butt ability to inflict massive damage.
Later on this motief is repeated with special kicks and punches that only work when the enemey is off balance (a throw will leave him off balance) staggered, etc. This tends to make hand to hand combat fairly complicated.
Whats that you say , you'll just stick to ranged ? Sorry , works great at low levels by after a bit the enemy will charge you and force you into hand to hand.
Judging by the training video's in the introduction hall that all charactars go through ranged combat has it's own issues. Weapons don't have the same range, so if you can run fast and stay ahead of the enemey , you can pretty much get free shots off at him until he falls and defeat him without getting hit at all (I also noticed an ability with guns to slow an enemey down by 50% ...hmmm... )
There's a lot of "grinding" in the game (just killing over and over) but the combat system is complicated enough that that isn't as boring as you'd think.
There are also "missions" to be accomplished, and the missions advance some kind of story line that holds the whole game together. When your charactar gets pretty high level (I think level 50) there are "world events" for such high level's.
I see the threads of a crafting system for building your own equipment (you get to see ALL the abilities , even the ones you don't have , and definitions for what they do) though I havn't experimented with it yet. That's always nice.
Multi-class to a fair thee well.
Raise some cash , kill a few thugs, hit the venders. Buy up some "virus/ hacker" abilities, and suddenly your charactar switches from being a kung fu martial artiest to a virus zapping ranged "spell caster" type. Doesnt' work out too well ? You still have those kung fu abilities, just load them up again. Or try out healing for a while , or programming (you get to make a pet that fights alongside with you) and try that for a while. Tweaking exactly what abilities you will load, will you be all the way kung fu ? Or will you take just enough hacking to give yourself some self healing ? Is obviously going to be an art form unto itself.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Ottawa Boy
"A defect in the abdomen wall"
What exactly is a "defect" ?
A weakness. I'm a fat bastard. If they cut open my belly (abdomen in medical terms) it will come gushing out , make a big defect ,and when they put it all back together then , it will not be as strong as before. There will be this "defect" showing. Please lose weight , make my life easier, says my surgeon.
Aha.
I barely eat as it is. Two meals a day. don't go to restaurants because a trip to a restaurant generally means I'mg going back to the hostpital ( I have Chrones Disease... anything irritates my belly , I'm hospital bound)
I lift up my t-shirt. I look down. I have two bags, Shcomata bags , or some such. Basically the kind where your intestines have been cut lose from your "anus" and stuck in a hole in your belly , and you now "excrete fecal matter " (shit) through the hole.
Only no one ever cut lose my my intestines. I have "fistula's" , holes my body makes all by itself. Thus why there is two instead of just one that a surgeon would make.
I look down and there are two bags on my belly. And yes, i also still go to the bathroom and dump "fecal matter" as per a normal man would do this.
I'm on predinzone , in 5 years this will give most people a lethal case of Ostrioperosis, (weak bones, all the bone cells die off you break your bones at the drop of a hat and you die quickly from having every bone in your body broken) , so I have to have this operation.
Ok.
I'm a fat bastard and I'm going to have a "defect" in my belly.
So... what exactly does this mean ?
I'm going to be a troll. A fat ugly man with a big scar in his belly , most of his lower intestines missing , crapping into a bag on my belly instead of out my rear end ...
Oh yes. And this is only to stop this bout of Chrones disease, you do understand there is no cure , we may have to come back and cut out some more of your intestine ? Do this all over again ?
"Oh I'm sorry , but the summer surgery schedule isn't out yet. Please call back in two weeks and we'll see if we can schedule your operation then. yes, feel free to call back an check on that in mid may ..."
Welcome to my nightmare.
What exactly is a "defect" ?
A weakness. I'm a fat bastard. If they cut open my belly (abdomen in medical terms) it will come gushing out , make a big defect ,and when they put it all back together then , it will not be as strong as before. There will be this "defect" showing. Please lose weight , make my life easier, says my surgeon.
Aha.
I barely eat as it is. Two meals a day. don't go to restaurants because a trip to a restaurant generally means I'mg going back to the hostpital ( I have Chrones Disease... anything irritates my belly , I'm hospital bound)
I lift up my t-shirt. I look down. I have two bags, Shcomata bags , or some such. Basically the kind where your intestines have been cut lose from your "anus" and stuck in a hole in your belly , and you now "excrete fecal matter " (shit) through the hole.
Only no one ever cut lose my my intestines. I have "fistula's" , holes my body makes all by itself. Thus why there is two instead of just one that a surgeon would make.
I look down and there are two bags on my belly. And yes, i also still go to the bathroom and dump "fecal matter" as per a normal man would do this.
I'm on predinzone , in 5 years this will give most people a lethal case of Ostrioperosis, (weak bones, all the bone cells die off you break your bones at the drop of a hat and you die quickly from having every bone in your body broken) , so I have to have this operation.
Ok.
I'm a fat bastard and I'm going to have a "defect" in my belly.
So... what exactly does this mean ?
I'm going to be a troll. A fat ugly man with a big scar in his belly , most of his lower intestines missing , crapping into a bag on my belly instead of out my rear end ...
Oh yes. And this is only to stop this bout of Chrones disease, you do understand there is no cure , we may have to come back and cut out some more of your intestine ? Do this all over again ?
"Oh I'm sorry , but the summer surgery schedule isn't out yet. Please call back in two weeks and we'll see if we can schedule your operation then. yes, feel free to call back an check on that in mid may ..."
Welcome to my nightmare.
Friday, April 28, 2006
(Empires Fall) More Mail Encryption
Article
There's an excellent extension for Thunderbird, called Enigmail.
It allows you to send and receive public-key encrypted messages from within Thunderbird.
..
Concerned about NSA wiretapping? Install this and use it. It'll most likely make...
Yeah , right !
I used to work at a (name not disclosed) security company up here in canada. They debated for a long time trying to get into the US market writing encryption software , but eventualy decided not to do it. Why ? Because the FBI wanted them to put in a back door to any encryption such that they could instantly break the code and read the messages . Don't do that , and you're not allowed to sell your product in the usa.
It doesn't take much to imagine that every off the shelf "encryption" package of any kind in the US has a similar back door.
If you want encryption write it yourself. Otherwise you're only one you're deluding.
There's an excellent extension for Thunderbird, called Enigmail.
It allows you to send and receive public-key encrypted messages from within Thunderbird.
..
Concerned about NSA wiretapping? Install this and use it. It'll most likely make...
Yeah , right !
I used to work at a (name not disclosed) security company up here in canada. They debated for a long time trying to get into the US market writing encryption software , but eventualy decided not to do it. Why ? Because the FBI wanted them to put in a back door to any encryption such that they could instantly break the code and read the messages . Don't do that , and you're not allowed to sell your product in the usa.
It doesn't take much to imagine that every off the shelf "encryption" package of any kind in the US has a similar back door.
If you want encryption write it yourself. Otherwise you're only one you're deluding.
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