Invader's-Rant

rarity.. 4 generations of a family, all standing next to one another...

2010-05-20T22:32:00.003-04:00

III's bday is tomorrow

I miss II ('98) and I('86 i think) ...

Sun Microsystems was purchased by Oracle

2010-05-19T15:06:00.003-04:00

+ =

lolzors

As some of you may or may not know, Sun Microsystems was purchased by Oracle. In this process, the encryption keys they use to validate their software repositories have changed. this will cause ubuntu updates to throw an error involving NO_PUBKEY.

this applies to everyone running a virtual machine on virtualbox.

first run following (this is one line not two - it wrapped):

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

then run
sudo apt-get update

then run
sudo apt-get upgrade

then run
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-3.2

to upgrade virtualbox to the laaatest version. dont forget to install the vm client utilities!!! enjoy!!

social networking phenomenon

2010-05-13T14:58:00.001-04:00

There are people who have FB accounts on which all they do is associate themselves with family and friends and saying hi, but never posting anything other than replies. This is perfectly ok to do, but this can be accomplished far easier and more discreetly with email as often those replies contain dangerous geographic information. This is a patently obsolete way of seeing the web and it's purpose for mankind. This also glaringly misses the point of the social networking phenomenon.

FB is, as the first* Next Big Thing to blogging (followed by the pure descendant Twitter), a forum for airing all of those things rattling around in your head. Its a place to share those things that you just want to go out into the middle of a parking lot and scream for all to hear. to share the moments of Wow I just saved a bundle on my car insurance :) or solved some stupid computer issue that i know a lot of other people have. to truly foster humanity in the realm of "computers are sooo impersonal and you can't build relationships online, only in the physical world".
[* (non-crapped-up - re: MySpace was here first but it is completely USELESS for this unless you're a 12-16 yo teener or a perv looking to pick one up)]

Facebook and it's contemporaries are the last bastion of an environment in which corporate is merely a peer rather than an authority. In which subversion by big $$$ is only doable if the big $$$ is on the same page with what people want. Signing on with a belief system, or not, is entirely voluntary and much more likely to be done with a clear head and rational thought. It's less likely to brainwash if the recipient of information has the power to simply click it away (see Big TV Advertisers -vs- TiVo/DVR technology :) - scares the hell out of 'em because people don't have to watch ads any more. ).
[Anecdote - I don't watch ANYTHING on live cable or broadcast TV anymore because of this. Of course I don't equate PBS with "cable or broadcast TV" in any way.]

I just wanted to stand out in the facebook parking lot and shout this :)

It is still possible to be infected while on antivirus...

2010-05-09T11:55:00.001-04:00

[warning - im having fun with icons ^_^ )

Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers out there!

It is still possible to be infected while on antivirus...

Those on Crtain platforms still need to be especially careful what they run and who they open emails from..

Those who n longer run ffected platforms-its nice to be on the outside looking in :)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/07/argument_switch_av_bypass/

"Researchers say they've devised a way to bypass protections built in to dozens of the most popular desktop anti-virus products, including those offered by McAfee, Trend Micro, AVG, and BitDefender."

stupid effing java!

2010-05-04T03:29:00.004-04:00

stupid effing java!

Java is installed but not seen by firefox under ubuntu 9.04 jaunty jackalope
about:plugins doesnt reference Java(TM) Plug-in 1.6.0_20
File: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
etcetera ad nauseam
Or when running firefox you get a disappearing crash with an error like

SomeUser@yourmachine:~$ firefox
OpenOffice path is '/usr/lib/openoffice'
Didn't find JVM under /opt/firefox/plugins
firefox-bin: ../../../../src/plugin/solaris/plugin2/common/JavaVM.c:104: InitializeJVM: Assertion `foundJVM' failed.

To make it Not So Stupid in Ubuntu Jaunty:

1 Install :
$ sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-doc sun-java6-bin sun-java6-fonts
agree to DLJ license

2 Activate:
update-alternatives --config java
choose sun java (if choice given)

Even if only output is

There is only 1 program which provides java
(/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java). Nothing to configure.

it did something. your output may also be

# update-alternatives --config java
There are 2 choices for the alternative java (providing /usr/bin/java).

Selection Path Priority Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java 1061 auto mode
1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/bin/java 1061 manual mode
2 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java 63 manual mode

pick java-6-sun, in this case #2, logically enough by hitting 2[enter] lol

then do

# apt-get remove openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless openjdk-6-jre-lib

if it appears(as it does above) that openjdk is installed.

3 Clean Up old Links/Binaries (if any) (!!!!PLEASE adapt following to your environment - change paths etc)
Delete ALL pluginreg.dat file(s)
$ rm ~/.mozilla/firefox/ul9j1z05.default/pluginreg.dat
# updatedb && locate libnpjp2.so libjavaplugin_oji.so
[output] might be similar to
/home/SomeUser/.mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/home/SomeUser/.mozilla/plugins/libnpjp2.so
/home/AnotherUser/.mozilla/firefox/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/opt/firefox/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/lib/firefox-plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/lib/firefox-plugins/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/plugin/i386/ns7-gcc29/libjavaplugin_oji.so

remove all instances if any of libnpjp2.so and libjavaplugin_oji.so EXCEPT the ones in "/usr/lib/jvm/- - - - -"
# rm /home/SomeUser/.mozilla/plugin/libjavaplugin_oji.so
# rm /home/SomeUser/.mozilla/firefox/plugins/libnpjp2.so
# rm /opt/firefox/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
-- NOT --
rm /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so

4 Link In Fresh Plugins
cd /opt/firefox/plugins/
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so .
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so .

# updatedb && locate libnpjp2.so libjavaplugin_oji.so
[output] should be
/opt/firefox/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/opt/firefox/plugins/libnpjp2.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.20/jre/plugin/i386/ns7-gcc29/libjavaplugin_oji.so

5 Test Firefox
$ firefox http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

click (Verify java ......) or the like

[output] should be

Verified Java Version
Congratulations!
You have the recommended Java installed (Version 6 Update 20).

if this happens, WOOHOO!!!!

if not, keep on searchin... and comment back with what works for you!!

http://tinyurl.com/26oabvs had a similar problem that i forwarded my post to...

545 vs. 300,000,000

2010-04-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

This is so true. Short, but an Excellent read.

What the hell happened - 545 vs. 300 million

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be - read it!! The article below is completely neutral, ...not anti republican or democrat.

Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that, in the final analysis, must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day.

It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

545 vs. 300,000,000

EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE..

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.

545 PEOPLE

By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them...

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do..

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper..

What you do with this article now that you have read it.......... Is up to you. This might be funny if it weren't so darned true. Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land, Tax his bed, Tax the table At which he's fed. Tax his tractor, Tax his mule, Teach him taxes Are the rule. Tax his work, Tax his pay, He works for peanuts Anyway! Tax his cow, Tax his goat, Tax his pants, Tax his coat. Tax his ties, Tax his shirt, Tax his work, Tax his dirt. Tax his tobacco, Tax his drink, Tax him if he Tries to think. Tax his cigars, Tax his beers, If he cries Tax his tears. Tax his car, Tax his gas, Find other ways To tax his ass. Tax all he has Then let him know That you won't be done Till he has no dough. When he screams and hollers; Then tax him some more, Tax him till He's good and sore. Then tax his coffin, Tax his grave, Tax the sod in Which he's laid... Put these words Upon his tomb, Taxes drove me to my doom...' When he's gone, Do not relax, It's time to apply The inheritance tax.. Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax CDL license Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Dog License Tax Excise Taxes Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax Food License Tax Fuel Permit Tax Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon) Gross Receipts Tax Hunting License Tax Inheritance Tax Inventory Tax IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties
(tax on top of tax) Liquor Tax Luxury Taxes Marriage License Tax Medicare Tax Personal Property Tax Property Tax Real Estate Tax Service Charge T ax Social Security Tax Road Usage Tax Sales Tax Recreational Vehicle Tax School Tax State Income Tax State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) Telephone Federal Excise Tax Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax Telephone State and Local Tax Telephone Usage Charge Tax Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax Vehicle Sales Tax Watercraft Registration Tax Well Permit Tax Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!

GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!

taylor swift love story

2009-12-01T21:03:00.003-05:00

bleh another pseudo disney teener popsong played while getting preggo and for lifetime movie fans.. they dont mention that romeo hangs drywall and gets drunk on payday and juliet goes to the bar with a baby on her hip.. I know Im rambling but what a cloying saccharine sweet song...

then again all taylor swift tunes are like that. well i hope she has a good financial team to capitalize while the moneys good :).

twitter background update lolololoolll

2009-08-28T13:49:00.001-04:00

twitter background update lolololoolll twitter.com/mrinvader

twitter

2009-08-08T15:05:00.002-04:00

rhymes with its current residence...

The Shitter

funny from my cousin

2009-08-08T15:04:00.000-04:00

Last night, the deluxe bean burrito combo platter. This morning, the 3-cheese omlette w/ broccoli. This afternoon, ur a ticking time bomb. Sweet, sweet mercy.

lol

lost job

2009-07-26T09:30:00.001-04:00

Didn't get along with the grey area morality of the place - shipping machines with hot keyed/unlicensed software and inadequately protecting against malware and trojans by 1: NOT telling people about firefox and 2 NOT installing antispyware. his business model relies on the machines coming back outside of warranty due to the computer illiteracy of the clientèle.

We did exactly what we said we would do.. and put on exactly what we said we would. And nothing more!

...but is it just me or is it shady to release product with full knowledge that it is inadequately protected against threats!?

O Waitasec, Microsoft has been doing this for YEARS!?!?!

I Got The Job

2009-07-09T12:04:00.002-04:00

I start Monday July 13

I will be repairing and building PCs and printers, and basically doing what i always do.

Going for hardware job intervew tomorrow

2009-07-07T01:07:00.000-04:00

Getting ready to go for a hardware test at a computer store in town. hopefully it will be employment.

2009-06-03T02:19:00.001-04:00

Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish where it was read as "Suffer from diarrhea."

Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.

Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into German only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "manure stick."

When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read.

An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el papa), the shirts read "I saw the potato" (la papa).

Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave", in Chinese.

Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."

The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Ke-kou-ke-la", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "happiness in the mouth."

When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "it won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." Instead, the company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.

GM renamed its Buick LaCrosse in Canada because the name for the car is slang for "masturbation" in Quebec.

Take Two software features OJ Simpson in its new All Pro Football game. In the game Simpson plays on a team called The Assassins. The mascot is a hooded figure who makes stabbing motions with a large knife in the end zone when the Assassins score.
Tie: Several companies don’t realize that references to Nazis are offensive.
1.A Mumbai-based home furnishing company releases “The Nazi Collection” of bedspreads that feature swastikas. Although the swastika is a symbol of luck in India that goes back thousands of years, the company’s explanation for the name of the collection – it allegedly was an acronym for “New Arrival Zone for India” – put the lie to that.
2.Zara, a UK retail chain, pulls bags that are found to have swastikas on them.
3.Bell Canada has to pull ads that show a young woman wearing a button that says “Belsen Was A Gas” – a reference to a song by the Sex Pistols.
4.Italian winery releases Der Fuerher branded wine. Labels feature Nazi leaders, etc. Italian police not amused and seize wine. Wonder what happened to the evidence?
Cartoon Network fails to notify authorities that it will be placing odd electronic devices on bridges. In Boston, hilarity ensues. Nine other cities in the US scratch their heads. Parent company Turner Broadcasting coughs up $2 million for Boston’s freak out. Nine other cities in the US wish they’d freaked out, too.
Tie: car companies can’t figure out that suicide isn’t funny:
1.GM runs Super Bowl ad that shows robot getting laid off from job at GM plant and killing itself.
2.VW ad shows man coaxed back from jumping off ledge by news that VW has cars priced less than $17K.
Hershey begins selling Ice Breakers Pacs – small, clear-plastic envelopes of white powder. Police have problem with this. Hershey fails to capitalize. Does not claim that snorting breath mint is healthier than snorting cocaine or heroin.
Johnson & Johnson sues the Red Cross over the use of… wait for it … the red cross.
German campaign to raise funds for UNICEF features blonde kid in black face. Quoting AdFreak: This campaign was meant to raise support for schools in Africa, but even that part of the message is mangled by lines that sound like they’re condemning an entire continent: “In Africa, kids don’t come to school late, but not at all.” The campaign’s apparently been pulled after international criticism, although UNICEF notes that there was no “negative reaction from the German public after publication.”
Spirit Airlines two-fer:
1.Doesn’t realize that its “Many Islands, Low Fares” promotion will result in a very unfortunate acronym.
2.CEO Ben Baldanzasends email berating customers asking for a refund to said customers. Head of corp. communications adds fuel to the fire with following quotes:
“No, we really don’t believe we have anything to apologize for regarding Ben’s e-mail.”
“I can tell you that Ben cares enormously about our customers and our customer service. Ben said what is exactly true: that we don’t owe the customer anything. People can and do post whatever they would like on the Internet. But it cannot alter your adherence to your company policy or your procedures.”
Virginia tourism agency runs ads showing people flashing a hand signal used by the Gangster Disciples
Apple manages to generate ill will during most successful product release of the year. Shortly after the release of the Jesus Phone, Apple cut the price of the iPhone by $200, thereby pissing off early buyers and giving the press a reason to take a break from gushing over the gadget. This would have ranked higher but it had no impact on sales whatsoever. Great product will survive.

[IF] -Rudyard Kipling

2009-05-12T15:31:00.000-04:00

[IF]

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

Video of Taliban flogging girl draws anger in Pakistan

2009-04-03T19:31:00.002-04:00

waitasec.. i thought the taliban was no longer in power?! and pakistan was supposedly our ally? how can this be allowed to occur?!

it is however disgustingly ironic that this happened in _swat_ valley... lol.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-pakistan-flogging4-2009apr04,0,7541311.story

Video of Taliban flogging girl draws anger in Pakistan
'We condemn the whipping of women in Swat'

Women carry placards that read "We condemn the whipping of women in Swat," during a protest in Hyderabad, Pakistan.
The 17-year-old was believed to have been punished for refusing to marry a militant commander in the Swat Valley. A human rights activist calls the whipping 'intolerable.'

By Mubashir Zaidi and Laura King
2:45 PM PDT, April 3, 2009
Reporting from Istanbul, Turkey, and Islamabad, Pakistan -- Face down before a crowd, the teenage girl shrieks and writhes, begging for mercy. But the three masked men holding her down merely tighten their grip while a fourth man whips her again and again.

The video of a 17-year-old girl being publicly flogged by the Pakistani Taliban in the Swat Valley has galvanized the nation, drawing protests from human rights groups, denunciations from the central government and expressions of revulsion from ordinary Pakistanis.

Taliban flogging girl(google video)

The video, shot earlier this year, surfaced Friday on Pakistani television stations and the Internet.

While reports of abusive acts by the Pakistani Taliban have filtered out of the northwestern valley for months, such brutal scenes are rarely if ever captured on camera and publicly aired.

"This is intolerable," prominent human rights activist Asma Jahangir told journalists in the eastern city of Lahore.

Jahangir said the girl was believed to have been punished for refusing to marry a Taliban commander in the northwestern valley, where the government in February struck a truce with Islamic militants to stem violence. The militants then accused her of immoral behavior and ordered 34 lashes as a punishment, Pakistani news reports said.

The video, shot with a cellphone, initially shows the girl, clad in an all-enveloping black burka, being held by men while another begins striking her. She can be heard shouting for help in the Pashto language, spoken by most in Swat, but is dragged to another location, held down and flogged. Several dozen people can be seen looking on.

"For God's sake, please stop, stop it," the girl pleads as the whip falls. "I am dying."

Off-camera, another militant gives orders: "Hold her feet tightly. Lift her burka a bit."

A Taliban spokesman, Muslim Khan, defended the public lashing, saying the girl had engaged in immoral behavior, but did not specify. "It happened two months ago, when we were at war with the government," he told reporters in Swat. But local people said the incident had taken place two weeks ago in the village of Kala Kalae.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani condemned the flogging and pledged an investigation. The government's former information minister, Sherry Rehman, requested a special session of parliament to discuss the incident.

"Such brutalities . . . cannot be allowed to take place under the leadership of a democratic government," Rehman said in a statement. "We cannot leave our citizens at the mercy of militants who are murdering and maiming our people in the name of Islam."

Under the February truce, the Taliban were to cease hostilities and in return the provincial government permitted them to set up Islamic courts to enforce their version of Sharia law.

Jahangir, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called the flogging a harbinger that the country and its leaders must heed.

"This is not just the flogging of the girl; it is an indication of what is in store for us," she said. "The Taliban are forcing their brand of Islam on us, and we have to resist that."

Despite widespread condemnations, some Pakistani religious leaders defended the public whipping.

"The flogging is Islamic, and the punishment is written in the holy Koran," a leading Muslim scholar, Mufti Munibur Rehman, said in a televised debate. "So how can we term it un-Islamic?"

Other influential religious figures, though, denounced the punishment. Amir Liaquat Ali, who hosts a popular Islam-themed program on Geo TV, called it barbaric.

Some provincial officials complained that it was unfair to portray the flogging as reflecting current conditions in Swat, 100 miles north of the capital Islamabad.

Stations that aired the video preceded it with a warning that it contained graphic imagery and children should not be allowed to view it. Word of it quickly spread, with horrified Pakistanis from across the social spectrum text-messaging friends and urging them to watch it.

The Swat accord was reached between the North-West Frontier Province government and a cleric named Sufi Muhammad, whose son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah leads a Taliban army that for nearly two years had held off army and paramilitary troops seeking to regain control of Swat.

The alpine valley was once a tourist haven, with stunning mountain scenery and a ski resort, which the militants burned down.

Over the last two years, they also burned down nearly 200 schools providing education to girls and beheaded dozens of local officials and paramilitary troops, terrorizing anyone who dared speak out.

The central government was not a party to the peace accord but signaled its approval and pulled back army troops. The Swat deal was viewed with concern by Western governments, but Pakistani officials defended it as a way of stemming bloodshed in Swat and said the brand of Islamic law to be imposed was not a particularly harsh one.

The video was reportedly obtained by a documentary filmmaker named Samar Minallah, who said she received it from friends in Swat. It had been circulating in the valley for some days, she said.

laura.king@latimes.com

Zaidi is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Zulfiqar Ali in the city of Peshawar contributed to this report.

chromium-browser (where google chrome is derived)

2009-03-25T03:50:00.001-04:00

unstable as hell but man it goes like a raped ape!

Footloose is now Zac Efron-free.

2009-03-24T02:44:00.001-04:00

The teen dream has shimmied out of his Kevin Bacon-channeling role in the long-gestating remake of the classic '80s musical.

I think this is good due to Bacon's character liking GiRLS..

executives of insurer American International Group

2009-03-17T19:30:00.002-04:00

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley said he wants “contrition” from executives of insurer American International Group Inc. for their company’s problems, after earlier saying they should follow Japanese tradition and “resign or go commit suicide.”

“Of course, I don’t want anybody to go commit suicide, but I do want some contrition,” Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Now, what I want to know is, Why the hell not, Mr Grassley, why would you backpedal on this?!? Absolutely they should commit Seppuku! With a dirty garden trowel, even!

Cheney: unhappy

2009-03-15T14:50:00.002-04:00

Cheney: unhappy Bush did not pardon his former aide
Reuters - ‎2 hours ago‎
By James Vicini WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday he was unhappy with then-President George W. Bush's refusal to pardon Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's onetime chief of staff who was convicted in the CIA ...

Awwww he should be glad HE isnt in a situation to require pardon.. He should be in the federal pen getting a cockmeat sandwich with scooter and jeff skilling and all the rest of those rightwing blowhards!

AIG's insistence on bonuses raises ire in Washington

2009-03-15T14:48:00.001-04:00

AIG's insistence on bonuses raises ire in Washington
CNN - ‎1 hour ago‎
(CNN) -- White House officials and some members of Congress reacted strongly Sunday to news that insurance giant AIG had intended to pay out $165 million in bonuses and compensation.

Fuk No! Those bastards can starve in the street! BOOO!!!! HISSSS!!!

google is...

2009-03-14T09:18:00.000-04:00

officially smarter than a 5th grader!

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford...

2009-03-14T07:47:00.005-04:00

...would rather "pay down his state's budget shortfall"(probably boost his own state bennies chipped away during 8 years of Harken Oil leadership as president) than educate children or help his unemployed... typical disagreeable white man.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/13/school.stimulus/
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=273203

I like what this person said....

Captain Governor, the ship is sinking . . .

Posted by J Smithson, Pawleys - Friday, March 13, 2009 at 9:45 p.m.

Captain Sanford, the ship is sinking. And rather than accept life jackets to save the citizens onboard, the proud Captain Sanford proudly refuses any assistance so that our brave captain can look good for his photo op when he runs for president. "Oh captain, my captain," save the women and children at least! Oh, to clarify this request, save all the women and children please, not just the rich Republican ones. If you are afraid of debt (as your letter of explanation states), why were you not afraid during your 2 terms, as captain governor, to let the debt run up?

gee dubs' medieval jeebus based policies

2009-03-10T00:33:00.002-04:00

I wonder if he was aware that all of his re-gress (as opposed to PRO gress) would be reversed as soon as he and his kind were run out of office?!

Rush Limbaugh...

2009-03-03T15:26:00.002-05:00

Is a miserable fathead!

Prime example of why abortion should be legal, free, and encouraged for white bread scarfing franzia guzzling neocon trash.

but he needs to stay alive and healthy as the perfect demonstration of ignorance.

Crossloop support from an ubuntu workstation

2009-02-24T04:51:00.001-05:00

www.crossloop.com

If you are running Ubuntu 8.XX,

install wine from the wine repos (add them to your software sources)

install winetricks from the link off winehq

install IE6 via winetricks(necessary for accepting their eula/tos)

install Crossloop via their executable.

and thats it, it should work out of the box.

at the moment you can only remote others' desktops, not share yours.

to share a linux desktop you use ssh with a reverse tunnel and vnc server on your end..

you type:
ssh -R 5900:127.0.0.1:59000 -p 22 username@their-ip-addr.

they then point their vnc viewer to 127.0.0.1:59000 and log in with the password for your local vnc server.

Hilary Duff vs. Faye Dunaway: Catfight!

2009-02-04T12:57:00.003-05:00

Hilary Duff vs. Faye Dunaway: Catfight!

Posted by ExtraTV Staff on February 4, 2009 5:54 AM

Getty Images/Extra Composite

Former Disney teen Hilary Duff is set to play the role of Bonnie in a remake of the classic "Bonnie and Clyde" -- and original bad girl Faye Dunaway is not happy about her successor!

Dunaway, who portrayed the bank robber in the 1967 original, was reportedly miffed when she heard that Duff had landed the role -- reportedly saying, "Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?"

When Duff heard what Dunaway said about her, the claws came out -- and she suggested that Faye's days in the spotlight were up! "I think that my fans that are going to see the movie don't even know who she is," Hilary told E! News, "So you know, I think it was a little unnecessary, but I might be mad if I looked like that now too." Mrrrrrrrrrrrow!

"The Story of Bonnie and Clyde" is scheduled to be released in 2010, plenty of time for this feud to play out!

It is absolutely horrid that they casted Hillary Duff in a remake of such a classic. Hillary Duff. I would love to see anyone tell me with a straight face that she is a legitimate actress. Name one movie where she delivered a performance that was even watchable let alone good. She’s a sub par singer and an even worse actress. She’s the worst possible teen fluff and this isn’t some sort of stupid teens looking to get a girl movie so what is she doing in it? The movie will fail, they will realize they screwed up and this mistake will never be made again. Go away Hillary, spare yourself and those unfortunate enough to watch this.

- Jonathan
Posted 02/04/09 08:29 AM

I agree with Jonathan (and Faye) and go farther to say that the disney stable in the last 20 has been proof that with enough marketing, a cast that yells to act(like oxy clean guy), and neon colors onscreen, anyone can be a STAAAAHH.. no matter how incompetent they are. and Disney channel is the single most irritating channel i am aware of b/c of this.

Kudos to Faye for a well earned career.

Ill be surprised if they think about hiwwowy duff in 5 years let alone the 40 that Faye has..

idiot teeners

2009-01-28T06:41:00.001-05:00

On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 4:48 PM, <---------@---------.---> wrote:
> I challenge an assertion you make.
>
> Odds are that if legislation grants legal status to gay "marriages" then those refusing to perform those marriages on ethical/moral/religious/"law of Nature" grounds could indeed have legal action brought against them. Such legal standing is precisely what that camp is vying for - in many arenas.

a judge is as far as I know more or less required to marry anyone with
a license showing that they meet the requirements.. a priest or a
rabbi or whoever is not (I don't believe) bound by law to perform a
marriage, otherwise Pastor King of Adrian Church of God could be sued
for not marrying a couple where the man is a Mormon and the woman is a
Pentecostal - that happened (thankfully) to me. I will not be suing
him or being angry with him at all. I thanked him for saving my
posterior from a Really Dumb Mistake... like a Tall Building Jumping
From A Window class screwup [SPLAT!].

>
> ----- then a point or two to ponder -------
>
> The family - meaning a married Mom & Dad and their natural or adopted children IS the fundamental unit of society. So what happens then IF we redefine what a family is? Does this not cause a GREAT deal of confusion among the young who contend with much confusion already?
>
> Personally while I don't believe we should make legislation that would make homosexuality a punishable crime I also don't believe we should redefine what a family or a marriage is to include something so grossly against the laws of Nature - let alone the law of God.

I don't think it's ever been officially written down and codified in
secular society like not killing people or vandalism.. so any attempt
to define it is to (re)define it. I don't think public law should
define it. churches and cultures are free to define it as a norm. but
a law that has the intention of discrimination is one law closer to
George Orwell's Animal Farm or 1984. It is best not to go down that
slippery slope. Pretty soon people will be witch hunted because they
are gay, or not allowed to get married because they are mixed race.

Human beings are very powerful creatures in that we don't have to
follow many of the laws of nature. We can be or not be married and
have a family. We can self terminate. We can kill eachother for no
reason whatsoever, or commit random and senseless acts of beautiful
kindness. We can debate the meaning of our own existence, and that
meaning can change at a moments notice.

Free agency is a wonderful gift. And a terrible curse. And a grave
responsibility. The actions of one individual have potential to affect
the future of all humankind. Religion is a great tempering agent and
guide for the use of this powerful tool.. but it is not a law of the
land in America. Yet.

If I were a religious leader I would probably have to pass on
officiating these ceremonies, and forward a couple to someone else
with my blessings and best wishes.. honestly the thought of having to
make this decision hurts my head.

as a judge, my criteria would be to uphold and interpret the law as is
my power and job description. If the couple meets the requirements, I
would perform my duties honorably.

>
> While they frame this in terms of "civil rights" and "being a family" to reach out emotionally to the vast majority that find homosexuality the perversion it is --- my advice is "follow the money" because that is going to point out all sorts of things the emotional appeal is designed to blind you to.

very fair.. the same can also be said for the religious lobby or any
emotional self-defining way of life/thinking. I think that all people
with ulterior motives will get their due.

I think that the people in power who want this amendment stand to
benefit as well considering that if a gay person dies, any estate is
taxable, but if a married person dies, the estate goes to the spouse
without going through probate or any inheritance taxes. gay marriage
would increase the number of married inheritance transactions and
decrease $$$ for bridges to nowhere and other assorted pork (oo).

ultimately, an amendment of this type is the seeds of the American taliban.

do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

2009-01-27T04:29:00.005-05:00

> It’s only the third day of Barack Obama’s presidency, but he just announced his aggressive plan to force Americans to accept homosexuality.
> His just-revealed gay rights agenda, posted on the Whitehouse.gov website, is a dream come true for the homosexual lobby. Our new president wants to force Americans to accept homosexuality in the workplace and in the military. Plus, he will push hard to pass hate crimes legislation and give marriage benefits to same-sex couples.

it apparently is also a nightmare for the neocon airport bathroom hookups lobby...

I don't see this as a bad thing.. My relationship with my GF or the marriage of my parents is of no less worth or value because two men or two
women can share the same love for one another.. frankly their supposed salvation is not my responsibility. I believe that homosexuality is the wrong path for me but it isn't my place to tell someone else that it's wrong for them. what happened to the golden rule? would you want them to legislate away some right or privilege because they said it was wrong? should the Muslim community be able to outlaw me eating pork or should I be able to say that its illegal for people to marry in a native American ceremony? I think the whole "make homosexuality illegal" thing is being spearheaded by people who are feeling insecure of their own sexuality and afraid that they might be a little funny themselves. I cite Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, and countless other proponents of hating homosexuality. they so vehemently supported this cause because they hated themselves.

legislating discrimination is a very Un-American thing to do. this includes current implementations of affirmative action. If we say gays can't get married because its unchristian then Muslims and Jews can't either. lets ban Buddhists and atheists as well. Ultimately marriage is a legal contract. you can go be married by a judge. Not having anti gay legislation doesn't mean that anyone who performs marriages is REQUIRED to officiate marriages they don't approve of.

The Constitution is supposed to protect and ensure equal treatment for ALL people. It should not be changed to single out a group of people for different treatment. This anti-gay amendment discriminates by denying the rights and protections of marriage.

The only intent and effect of a Constitutional amendment like this is to deny basic rights and protections under the law to gay and lesbian people.
The anti-gay constitutional amendment does not defend marriage, it denies marriage rights to loving, committed couples. Thousands of children are being raised by gay and lesbian parents. Denying these parents the rights and protections of marriage leaves their children vulnerable.

love thy neighbor as thyself.

do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

honestly i think we need to worry more about the families in Alaska who can't heat their homes because of the cost of fuel in one of the most fuel rich states in the union.. about the displaced workers in Michigan who are in the same boat.. about our grandparents and some of our parents who have to choose between pills or food when the pharma companies are pulling record profits and selling north of the border at 1/2 the domestic prices.

you can't force a person or persons to accept anything. I am free to leave if someone starts smoking, drinking excessively or chewing with their mouth open.. I don't have to accept those behaviors no matter what any law says. If i did not like black people i have every right NOT to work in Pontiac, or if i couldn't stand KKK people I could choose not to attend a march :) .

>
> Here’s a short list of what our new president wants to do:
>
> Pass hate crimes legislation that will criminalize opposition to homosexuality.

it will criminalize opposition to homosexuality in the same manner that the civil rights act criminalized actions against black people, and employment law criminalizes opposition to not hiring someone because she's female.

> Allow homosexuals to enter into civil unions, which will “give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples.”

as Kinky Friedman said on Feb. 3, 2005, "I support gay marriage. I believe they have a right to be as miserable as the rest of us"

> Repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

it doesn't defend marriage, marriage doesn't need defended. unless this "act" keeps people from killing brides or grooms before they can utter those two words.. but there are other laws that cover that.

> Oppose a federal constitutional amendment to limit marriage to a man and a woman.

I dont think it's government's place to say what constitutes a marriage besides a contract two people who love each other. the sacredness aspect is upto their own beliefs. If a particular faith chooses to not recognize the marriage, that's their right to do so.

A legal marriage contract should not be confused with a temple sealing or a jewish wineglass smashing or a Hopi Qomi ceremony or etc..

> Repeal federal law to allow open homosexuals to serve in the U.S. military.

it's just as inappropriate to talk about who you slept with whether its gay or straight activity if said activity offends those around you.

if advances are made on another person that are not desired, it's equally harassment, whether by a guy against a guy or a guy against a girl or a girl against a girl or whatever.

none of this behavior is appropriate for the job description of being a member of the armed forces.

again, laws should not be made to discriminate.

> Give homosexual couples the right to adopt young children.

will the child be..

fed?
clothed?
taught not to steal, swear, blaspheme, lie, cheat, kill?
taught to obey his/her parents?

if yes then what's wrong with that?

> Fight AIDS with sex education, condoms, and needle-exchange programs.

Sounds like a good practical way to do it...

Abstinence Ed made Sarah Palin a grandmother twice over.

>
> Right now, the President has the political wind at his back. Most in the media and Congress are cheering for him and his agenda to succeed.

That's because the social conservative movement has now had TWO double length administrations to prove that their way is better. this has been a dismal failure BOTH times. This movement has nearly dropped us into a 1930s class depression Twice. at the same time during it's leadership. 1986 and 2006. this way of leadership has driven us so far into debt and done so much damage to the environment and humanity that some damages could take a millenia to repair.

The social conservative movement of jerry fallwell and his contemporaries is a crime against humanity.

> That means he most likely will unless men and women of moral conviction and courage stand up and say “No!”

define morality?

whose morality?

flying spaghetti monster adherents?

word of wisdom adherents?

Qu'ran or Torah or Tripitaka or Veda followers?

who is to define right and wrong!?

I personally can never hope to be all knowing enough to do anything other than to define what right and wrong mean to me, and to defend the rights of others do the same for themselves.

This is why I believe that the ten commandments are a good thing. They say not to take what isn't yours, not to be dishonest, don't take your or other people's religious figures' names in vain, listen to your parents, don't have any gods before your god, dont kill people, etc. these are all great ideals to adhere to. by people of any faith.

>
> We have resources to help you understand these issues and to take action.
>
> Ten Truths About Hate Crime Laws shows why so-called “bias-crime laws” threaten free speech, religious liberty, and equal justice in America. And if you’re wondering What’s Wrong With Same-Sex Marriage?, Dr. Kennedy has the answer in his book by that title. Finally, if you’re looking for aid in thinking biblically about every area of life, Dr. Kennedy’s book, Lord of All: Developing a Christian World-and-Life View will give you scriptural perspectives on politics, education, human life, economics, marriage, and more.

should it be protected speech to

call someone a fag or a queer (slander)
write in a newspaper that Paul Wolfowitz is a filthy jew (libel)
burn a cross in a black person's yard(arson/property damage)
throw blood on a person in a fur coat(assault/battery)?

These instances of the parenthesized crimes are particularly heinous because they are grossly offensive to more than one person. there was a time when christians were treated as they want gays to be treated.. they should remember history in the first 500 years AD... and what happened to Christ himself. Christ being crucified, albeit necessary in christian lore, was a hate crime. an assassination to try to preserve the status quo. Christ was seen as a rabblerouser and heretic and he was murdered for it. All religions have these occurrences, so no religion should be against hate crime legislation.

>
> Thank you for your partnership with Coral Ridge Ministries! Your immediate online donation today will help us defend America’s moral heritage and bring God’s Word to bear on every area of life.
> And look for more details in coming days about what our new

President is doing to impose “change” on the nation – and what we, with your help, are doing to defend traditional, biblically based American virtues!

American values are no more directly biblically based than any other religion. they are technically masonic in similarity.

American values are possibly summed up with E Pluribus, Unum. Of/From many, One. All have an equal part in the whole. which infers that all people are to be respected equally and their rights protected.

American values have been hijacked in the 20th century by people who fear anything that is not the same as they are.

The founding fathers did not wear their religious beliefs like so much designer clothing or a fancy car. They allowed it to define how they lived their lives.

see, the thing here is, _I_ am not threatened by gay people or Jews or people with green eyes or left-facing cowlicks.. Other men might be so offended, but as was said by Salahuddin Ayyubi, I Am Not Those Men! I am comfortable in my own skin and have no fears of myself.

ultimately, ultraconservative homophobia is a fear of their own latent homosexuality or jealousy that someone might not be chained down by the same restrictions. now, anyone is free to ask someone to not do something or leave their property... or to walk away themselves.

An honorable person will respect that.

Truth and justice has won the day. the terorist-pleasing witch hunting lynch mob hysteria of post 911 is over. now we can go back to our true purpose, being the land of the free and the home of the brave, all being welcome here. the bigots can now go peacefully into the pages of history.

if it were only that easy.

IE Fans Beware: Hackers Are Exploiting a Serious Unpatched Flaw

2008-12-17T12:28:00.004-05:00

Please dont use Inturdnet Exploder and plug up my inbox with spam and my firewall with mindless hammering when your crackheaded M$ Winders box gets trojaned and zombified! 80% of all spam is generated by infected Windows machines. Windows is a registered albatross of Micro$oft corp.

If you've never tried Firefox, Safari, Opera Google Chrome or other Internet Explorer alternatives, now might be a good time.
Micro$oft's flagship browser, the default choice on countless Windows machines, currently has a serious security flaw that affects all versions of the browser running on any version of Windows. The vulnerability allows hackers to gain access to any sensitive data on your PC.

Even more worrying, the exploit is already in the wild and no there's no fix in sight**, leading a number of security researchers to suggested that, in the interest of avoiding malicious software, users switch to another browser.

If you're the pry-it-out-of-my-cold-dead hands sort of IE fan, there is one bright side to news that some 10,000 sites are ready to pwn your PC: so far the sites are mostly Chinese and the malicious software is mainly after passwords for computer games, which can be sold on the black market.

But given the scope of the flaw and the fact that Microsoft has yet to release a patch**, don't expect that to last. Eventually far more sophisticated trojans will likely emerge with far more dangerous goals.

Obviously Microsoft isn't recommending you ditch IE (though the company didn't hesitate to suggest dumping Apple's Safari browser when it suffered from a far less serious vulnerability). Instead the company has released a security bulletin with possible workarounds, including running IE in Protected Mode and running Windows as an non-administrative user (to limit the damage an attacker can inflict).

Microsoft also says it is investigating the flaw and may push out an emergency software patch, rather than wait for the next monthly patch cycle to roll around.

**UPDATE - This has been patched. It took them far too long, but better late than never. Get the patch HERE

It is mentioned that other browsers have vulnerabilities... Yes that's true, but no other browser is so carelessly integrated with Windows as are Internet Explorer and the M$ HTML stack. When you look at your files and directories on your computer - IE libraries are accessed. The toolbar on Windows Explorer(what launches with "My Computer") uses IE libraries. IE is hooked by the shell and by a number of processes running with SYSTEM(higher than Administrator) level privileges such as Automatic Updates. Most people have to run Windows as a member of Administrators, thus, anything running as that user Runs As Administrator! And don't think just because you run Vista and you aren't running as admin, as numb to those G%#$amn (Confirm) (Deny) as people are, you're bound to _give_ permission to an app that needs it for world domination. As in WARGAMES, the only way to win the game, is not to play.

2008-12-02T14:53:00.002-05:00

These were comments and my replies to those comments on the following /. story:

Apple Quietly Recommends Antivirus Software For Macs

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 02, @08:59AM
from the wear-your-rubbers dept.
Security OS X Apple
Barence writes "After years of boasting about the Mac's near invincibility, Apple is now advising its customers to install security software on their computers. Apple — which has continually played on Windows' vulnerability to viruses in its advertising campaigns — issued the advice in a low-key message on its support forums. 'Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.' It goes on to recommend a handful of products." Reader wild_berry points out the BBC's story on the unexpected recommendation.

===================================================

I wish people would stop parroting this fallacy all the time. Market share has nothing to do with how easy it is to break into a system.

Look at AROS [sourceforge.net]! It has no security whatsoever, not even memory management between processes, so despite only having a hundred or so users, it must have zillions of virusses. But, of course, it DOESN'T. So far as I'm aware, nobody's bothered to write one, and it's unlikely any AROS virus would actually be effective.

All viruses require a reasonable level of market share to operate, because one of the principles they rely upon is a network effect, and you just plain cannot get a network effect without a decent market share. So marketshare is, very much, a pre-requisite for a successful virus. It's not the only one, but when people say "Mac OS X hasn't been attacked yet because it doesn't have enough marketshare", they're right. That's one fundamental reason. And unless you can show that any other reasons apply, it's likely to be the only reason.

If you have something like windows where security is bolted on after the fact, and OS that was never meant to be a multi-user OS connected to the internet (all these were added as features later on and done poorly) then you will have a system that is much harder to keep secure.

UNIX on the other hand was designed from day one to be networked multi-user OS, and security and separation of concerns was there from beginning.

It's frankly hilarious that Unix, on which the first worms operated, can be held up as some system that had security built-in from the start. It's also untrue that Windows, that is, the operating system known as Windows today, was "never meant to be a multi-user OS connected to the internet". Unless you're talking about Windows Me and its predecessors (98, 95, 3.1, et al), then that's completely false. Current versions of Windows (XP, Vista, 2003, et al) are derived from Windows NT, which was designed, from the beginning, to be "a multi-user OS connected to the internet".

In fact, Windows NT and its successors have a more advanced security model than Unix, allowing more than a separation of users and groups.

The issue with Windows is two fold. First, marketshare. And second, an over complex user-environment where too much functionality is available on the "user" side of the security wall. Both of these issues affected Unix up until the mid nineties, where its disproportionate share of Internet nodes and the amount of stuff running as the default user (which in Unix was root, which also happened to be the account with the most rights.)

There's little reason to believe that Mac OS X is protected from viruses by anything other than its low market share at this point. There's not a large enough group of users for network effects to take over. It is not an inherently secure operating system. The default user is generally set up with administration privileges, and it just takes a buffer overflow or other ordinary vulnerability in a client application like a web browser plug-in for a virus or worm to have complete access to the user's files, and enough access to be able to modify many of the applications the user is likely to run.

Fundamentally, Mac OS X has the same problem as Windows, and the same problem the "run-everything-as-root" Unixes did in the eighties and early nineties: too much functionality available to the default user. To fix this, you need to change the model somewhat. The very least Apple could do is set Mac OS X up so that the installer actively discourages setting up the default user as an administrator.

AFAIK, OS-X processes run as the (nonprivileged) user, and only during software installation and system changes are user actions run as root. HAL implementations and things allow user interactions, such as a user being able to execute a dialup operation or to mount media. When a system update or a new piece of software is to be installed, or a system setting such as en/disabling a service, a dialog asks for the user's permission. Most better linux distros do this through sudo or it's guified variants. I almost NEVER am asked for permission to do something because I almost never make changes to the SYSTEM.

To play devils advocate, the same may be said for Fista, but Fista asks permission for EVERYTHING!! The user is so often annoyed by the stupid mother%$#@%%^# UAC bull%$#% that they no longer pay attention to whats going on requiring a priv elevation and just click (I agree)(I agree)(I agree)(I agree)WTF!?(I agree)(I agree)Leamme alone willya(I agree)(I agree)STFU i keel you(I agree)(I agree)(I agree)AGGGGGHHHHHHH THE %$#@!?(I agree)[DOOMSDAY] %&^%% NO CARRIER

That implementation is a recipe for disaster. I actually ship all Fista installs with UAC Off because it does no good anyway, plus, most remote control implementations don't work for %$%# under it.

Now, anything prior to Winders Fista, it's practically a hard REQUIREMENT to run as admin. Even something as harmless as Acrobat Reader will not run well without God privileges.

Oh and trojans and worms require dumb users and exploits, respectively. Virii require homogeneous platforms with consumer accessible scripting languages and universal admin access... Thusly Windows is the most fertile platform for pestilence of any and all kinds, due to by-design perfect availability of all these conditions.

Windows is a Norway rat or a smallpox blanket.

===============================================

Except the GP didn't say that it was easier to break into the system - he said that more people are going to try. I think he neglects to mention an underlying assumption that no software is perfect, and given enough time and effort, the chances of finding a security flaw that can be exploited is greater than zero in ANY piece of software. While this assumption won't always be true, it's completely reasonable for us to make it when considering the security of our systems - for we don't really have any way of disproving it for any particular piece of software.
Agreed, however this is still news because the platform is under such control by Apple. They could quietly and easily put not only hardware and software in place. But implement more effective procedures in their software process to make security tighter. And we wouldn't be the wiser.

Since it IS under such an Iron Curtain by the Turtlenecked-One, they could also just as easily just paint on some secure looking interfaces and in reality only have lukewarm porridge behind the scenes..

They could implement more effective procedures, but skilled programming requires either programmers whose input is revered and who are justly compensated, or it requires an open development model based on a meritocracy and peer review where people won't get shot at for finding, documenting, and responsibly disclosing flaws.

I had a boss who always said, "Don't just come to me with a problem, come to me with a 'how things are' and a 'what to do about it'."

=====================================================

I think he neglects to mention an underlying assumption that no software is perfect, and given enough time and effort, the chances of finding a security flaw that can be exploited is greater than zero in ANY piece of software.

I don't believe this to be true if enough focus on security is made.

Software can be made secure at the expense of functionality. Now this doesn't ever solve the problem of local access, but if you made your OS into a glorified terminal server, you can prevent automated attacks by restricted what the user can do by default.

Of course the user might be hindered somewhat, but sometimes that is the price to pay.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-Benjamin Franklin

Not to mention that implementations denying users privileges has been annoying at best (UAC on Fista (VISTA), destroyed and removed while OS still called Longhorn LOL ) and often disastrous (the crypto used on DVD and BluRay (cracked a few months and a few weeks post release, respectively).

Doing these things makes ordinarily whitehat power users seethe. We then violently crack the protection on general principal. Some two-bit weenie in Redmond or Cupertino is NOT going to tell me what I can and can't do with MY system!

=======================================================

The Real Plumbers of Ohio

2008-11-26T10:11:00.001-05:00

The Real Plumbers of Ohio

Article Tools Sponsored By [Killed-http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/18/46/ad.184636//SLOB_banner_88x31_NOW.gif-by-size]
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 20, 2008
Paul Krugman
Columnist Page
Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal
Related
Times Topics: John McCain

Forty years ago, Richard Nixon made a remarkable marketing discovery. By exploiting America’s divisions — divisions over Vietnam, divisions over cultural change and, above all, racial divisions — he was able to reinvent the Republican brand. The party of plutocrats was repackaged as the party of the “silent majority,” the regular guys — white guys, it went without saying — who didn’t like the social changes taking place.
Skip to next paragraph
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

It was a winning formula. And the great thing was that the new packaging didn’t require any change in the product’s actual contents — in fact, the G.O.P. was able to keep winning elections even as its actual policies became more pro-plutocrat, and less favorable to working Americans, than ever.

John McCain’s strategy, in this final stretch, is based on the belief that the old formula still has life in it.

Thus we have Sarah Palin expressing her joy at visiting the “pro-America” parts of the country — yep, we’re all traitors here in central New Jersey. Meanwhile we’ve got Mr. McCain making Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, a k a Joe the Plumber — who had confronted Barack Obama on the campaign trail, alleging that the Democratic candidate would raise his taxes — the centerpiece of his attack on Mr. Obama’s economic proposals.

And when it turned out that the right’s new icon had a few issues, like not being licensed and comparing Mr. Obama to Sammy Davis Jr., conservatives played victim: see how much those snooty elitists hate the common man?

But what’s really happening to the plumbers of Ohio, and to working Americans in general?

First of all, they aren’t making a lot of money. You may recall that in one of the early Democratic debates Charles Gibson of ABC suggested that $200,000 a year was a middle-class income. Tell that to Ohio plumbers: according to the May 2007 occupational earnings report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual income of “plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters” in Ohio was $47,930.

Second, their real incomes have stagnated or fallen, even in supposedly good years. The Bush administration assured us that the economy was booming in 2007 — but the average Ohio plumber’s income in that 2007 report was only 15.5 percent higher than in the 2000 report, not enough to keep up with the 17.7 percent rise in consumer prices in the Midwest. As Ohio plumbers went, so went the nation: median household income, adjusted for inflation, was lower in 2007 than it had been in 2000.

Third, Ohio plumbers have been having growing trouble getting health insurance, especially if, like many craftsmen, they work for small firms. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2007 only 45 percent of companies with fewer than 10 employees offered health benefits, down from 57 percent in 2000.

And bear in mind that all these data pertain to 2007 — which was as good as it got in recent years. Now that the “Bush boom,” such as it was, is over, we can see that it achieved a dismal distinction: for the first time on record, an economic expansion failed to raise most Americans’ incomes above their previous peak.

Since then, of course, things have gone rapidly downhill, as millions of working Americans have lost their jobs and their homes. And all indicators suggest that things will get much worse in the months and years ahead.

So what does all this say about the candidates? Who’s really standing up for Ohio’s plumbers?

Mr. McCain claims that Mr. Obama’s policies would lead to economic disaster. But President Bush’s policies have already led to disaster — and whatever he may say, Mr. McCain proposes continuing Mr. Bush’s policies in all essential respects, and he shares Mr. Bush’s anti-government, anti-regulation philosophy.

What about the claim, based on Joe the Plumber’s complaint, that ordinary working Americans would face higher taxes under Mr. Obama? Well, Mr. Obama proposes raising rates on only the top two income tax brackets — and the second-highest bracket for a head of household starts at an income, after deductions, of $182,400 a year.

Maybe there are plumbers out there who earn that much, or who would end up suffering from Mr. Obama’s proposed modest increases in taxes on dividends and capital gains — America is a big country, and there’s probably a high-income plumber with a huge stock market portfolio out there somewhere. But the typical plumber would pay lower, not higher, taxes under an Obama administration, and would have a much better chance of getting health insurance.

I don’t want to suggest that everyone would be better off under the Obama tax plan. Joe the plumber would almost certainly be better off, but Richie the hedge fund manager would take a serious hit.

But that’s the point. Whatever today’s G.O.P. is, it isn’t the party of working Americans.
More Articles in Opinion » A version of this article appeared in print on October 20, 2008, on page A29 of the New York edition.

Auto Company Buyouts:

2008-11-26T10:10:00.002-05:00

Auto Company Buyouts:

It's perfectly ok to aid those companies who use American labor at a living wage, to produce product that's environmentally and economically responsible.

However, to those companies who get themselves in a jam by specializing in vehicles that take two parking spaces and have fuel consumption ratings in Gallons Per Mile,
--No Soup For YOU!!--

To those who manufacture their vehicles in CHINA or other human rights trampling tin-pot dictatorships, while Americans sit in the union hall or unemployment line or worse,
--No Soup For You!!--

Each vehicle component that is made or assembled overseas when there is labor and reasonable manufacturing capacity (skilled workers) to make it HERE, shall lose Double the us market value in Buyout Bucks.

For Example, A headlamp envelope made in the land of Chairman Mao for a vehicle that costs Joe The Plumber $200 to replace will be $400*the number of vehicles it's installed on. If there are 300000 Vibes made this year with this headlight assembly, thats $400*300000=$120,000,000 in buyout bucks that will be put into a fund to reward American job creation. If contractual agreements are made to remedy this within 3 years of buyout, waive the penalty and help facilitate this change. China won't see one more cent from any company that receives corporate welfare.

It should be considered embezzlement to hand out or receive golden parachutes while the company has it's hand out to the taxpayers for a bailout and is cutting wages, pensions, healthcare, and jobs. Go Corrupt? Your leadership goes for 30 years hard in Sing Sing F--- me in the A-- Prison - General Population with a Friendly(hehe) bunkmate.

...And no more coddling companies on fuel efficiency standards. If Honda can meet these standards with 70% of each vehicle made in the 'states, the Big 3 (2?) have _NO_ excuse!

Just a thought.

In order to fund healthcare

2008-11-26T10:10:00.001-05:00

In order to fund healthcare,

Tax the following:
alcohol
tobacco
prepackaged shredded Iceberg lettuce
Compact Industrial Iceberg Shredders
(Yes, I am going directly after the cholesterol clogged testicles of McD, BK, the 'Bell, and all other health destroying fast food places which will cost healthcare bigtime..)
people making over $700,000(who should be eligible for this healthcare btw)
moving violations
gas guzzler SUVs owned by households of one or two people.

Oh and tariff the **** out of companies that export our jobs and import melamine milk, leaded toys, and shitty tinfoil cars. Basically Wal*Mart becomes TariffMart!

Bring the troops home, or start wantonly pumping oil out of IRAQ.

Award defense contracts to _ethical_ companies.
Contractor commits gouging, ethics violations or corrupt acts? Lose your contract and your leadership goes for 30 years hard in Sing Sing F--- me in the A-- Prison - General Population with a Friendly(hehe) bunkmate.
(Yep I'm gonna have Swedish Halliburton Balls for Breakfast.)

Punish companies who make it corporate policy to screw their employees and destroy other local businesses. Tax their leadership. Ultimately, a screwed employee is a burden on the taxpayers in food stamps, childcare, and medicaid. It becomes a double whammy when the employee makes such crappy pay as not to have to pay taxes themselves due to being under poverty level. If as a faith based nonprofit you do this to your people while your leadership makes hundreds of thousands or more? you lose your 501c3 status.
Awwh, Sam Walton's kids might have to forgo one less Astin Martin each this year to pay the screw your employees fine, and the Prayse Jaysus Nursing Home gets new leadership or gets the chair. [violins play a sad waah waah story tune]

People who don't work or at least try to find work are to receive no benefits. no more of this "sit on your butt and draw welfare" garbage! If I'm going to pay taxes to support your dead a**, abuse will be treated as garden variety theft or fraud! its Sing Sing for you too!

There are other places to find money for this, but these are the ones kicking around my head right now. And spend not one dime of this revenue stream on anything BUT healthcare!

One sunny day in January, 2009,..

2008-11-25T22:55:00.001-05:00

One sunny day in January, 2009,..
One sunny day in January,21st 2009 an old man approached the White House from
Across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He
spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, 'I would like
to go in and meet with President Bush.'

The Marine looked at the man and said, 'Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer
president and no longer resides here.'

The old man said, 'Okay' and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and
said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.'
The Marine again told the man, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr.Bush is no
longer president and no longer resides here.'

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke
to the very same U.S. Marine, saying 'I would like to go in and meet
with President Bush.'

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and
said, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to
speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the
president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?'

The old man looked at the Marine and said, 'Oh, I understand. I
just love hearing it.'

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, 'See you tomorrow, Sir.'

Note from Karl Rove

2008-10-15T10:11:00.000-04:00

Dear MoveOn member,

Time to relax!

Obama is way ahead in the polls. It's time for you to take victory for granted, and to stop paying attention.

And there's definitely no need to http://pol.moveon.org/obama/teams/training.html?office_id=3D11997&id=3D14395-9067885-qi.wvBx&t=3D1 spend
one more minute volunteering

You're probably thinking, "But Karl Rove, why would you—the mastermind behind the stealth get-out-the-vote program
that powered George Bush's victories—be advising us not to get out and talk
to voters?"

That is a good question. (And by the way, I prefer "Evil Genius" to "Mastermind.") It's true that voter
outreach can tip an election—but you're ahead in the polls, and they never lie.

So relax! Do some yoga. Check out the new season of Project Runway. Sip white wine lattes, or whatever it is that you people
like to drink.

Barack does not http://pol.moveon.org/obama/teams/training.html?office_id=3D11997&id=3D14395-9067885-qi.wvBx&t=3D2 need
you out talking to voters in Michigan—so there's finally time to tie-dye the seat covers for your Volvo. In fact,
you probably shouldn't even bother to vote.

Please forward this to all of your Democrat friends. Don't send it to Republicans, though. Thanks!

–"Karl Rove"

P.S. Again—no volunteering! Don't click this link to sign up to help Obama in Tecumseh:

http://pol.moveon.org/obama/teams/training.html?office_id=3D11997&id=3D14395-9067885-qi.wvBx&t=3D3

P.P.S. Our lawyers made us promise to tell you that Karl Rove didn't actually write this message—but we're pretty sure
this is what he'd write if he had.

the motherf$king gas prices

2008-09-22T21:59:00.001-04:00

the motherf$king gas prices

Current mood: angry

I've never had to worry about taking a 30mi trip somewhere for a job, but what with unemployment, and th e gas prices caused by the $hitheels in government.. it costs $6 for a round trip to brooklyn from adrain!!!

HOUSTON, TX (IWR Satire) -- Mr. Bush (above) leads his supporters in the "Neocon Pledge of Allegiance" (Full Text below) at the Joe McCarthy Arena in downtown Houston.

After the pledge was recited, Mr. Bush and his followers goose-stepped around the arena in their jackboots as the loud speakers played the Horst Wessel Song.

I Pledge Allegiance

to the Authoritarian Leader of the United States of America

and to the Neocon Agenda for which he stands,

one Nation

under Fear,

divided,

with liberty and justice for ExxonMobil-Shell-Texaco-BPAmoco-EmroETC.

[http://www.internetweekly.org/photo_cartoons/cartoon_bush_neocon_pledge.html]

Migrate to Linux instead of Vista

2008-07-08T18:00:00.003-04:00

Migrate to Linux instead of Vista

[Get UBUNTU here] [Get FEDORA here] [Get OPENSUSE here]
Mr I's comment - a smart move for ANYONE (except gamers... for now)

Comment A smart move for business

By Egan Orion: Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 1:59 PM
ganked from the inquirer

BUSINESSES DISMAYED at the prospect of being forced to move to Windows Vista, due to its associated hardware upgrade costs and poorperformance, might consider moving to Linux instead as a viable alternative. Orso a recent article appearing at PC World suggests.

Since Windows XP remains available only as a "downgrade" from Vista, atadditional cost, businesses that want to replace obsolescent PCs or need to addstaff are compelled to buy Windows Vista and then pay extra if they want to staywith Windows XP. In order to avoid the cost of "downgrading" to XP by migratingall desktops to Vista, they're faced with the added cost of all new Vistalicences, plus high hardware replacement costs because Vista requires new PCskitted out with at least 2GHz CPUs and 2GB of memory in order to runacceptably. Then there's also the fact that Windows Vista performs poorly, evenafter SP1.

Businesses that want to avoid such a large hit to their IT budgets shouldperhaps consider migrating to Linux instead. All of the Linux distributions areavailable either entirely free of charge or at relatively low cost includingvendor support.

Linux runs well even on older PC hardware, which means businesses can avoidhaving to purchase all new desktop PCs.

All of the major Linux distributions include free file and print servers,website and email servers and clients, office productivity applications,development toolsets and utilities.

Good Linux support is available from the larger distribution vendors atreasonable rates. Also, most cities and large towns have a local community oftechies who offer support for Linux and applications running under it.

Sure, a business might incur some setup, initial support and stafffamiliarisation costs, but just the additional Windows Vista-related expensesavoided within the initial year alone by moving away from a Microsoft-centric ITenvironment will likely be well worth making the switch. In addition, thefirst-year cost savings might be dwarfed by further IT cost savings realised infuture years by using Linux to avoid Microsoft's treadmill of recurring charges.

How much cash can a business save by making the switch to Linux instead of "upgrading" to Vista? Here's an admittedly incomplete, per-seat estimate of thecost savings:

........

ITEM		MIN		MAX
New PC Hardware	$	700	$	1,200
Windows Vista Business Edition	$	300	$	300
Windows XP Downgrade	$	0	$	50
Office Professional 2007	$	0	$	500
TOTALS	$	1,000	$	2,050

The above breakdown shows that a business might save from $1,000 to $2,050per seat by moving to Linux. The lower estimate assumes that it buys a veryinexpensive replacement desktop PC, won't remain on Windows XP and so won'tincur the "downgrade" charge for that, and already has a user licence for MSOffice. The higher estimate assumes that it buys a higher end desktop ornotebook PC, will stay with XP and so will incur the "downgrade" charge forthat, and purchases a user licence for MS Office.

In contrast, switching to Linux won't require a business to replace itsexisting desktop PC hardware or buy expensive operating system or officeproductivity applications licences.

The PC World article has a lot more details, but the business casefor switching to Linux instead of suffering through a forced and costlymigration to Windows Vista seems clear. µ

L'Inq
PCWorld

ice storm 07

2007-01-20T22:53:00.000-05:00

ice storm

video of two days afterwards

salad-d00m

Islamophobic Remarks of Virgil Goode(R Va)

2006-12-26T00:10:00.000-05:00

In response to the Islamophobic Remarks of Virgil Goode(R Va), a 10-year member of the lower House of Representatives from the southern state of Virginia, about the decision of Keith Ellison(D MN), an African-American who last month became the first Muslim elected to the US Congress to swear on the qu'ran when he takes office...
=====================================

Welcome to the North American Trailer Park, where "with liberty and justice for all" means white pentecostal looneys only. ya know what? first they call the bible the livin' werd o' GAHHHD and then they say its just a tradition with no meaning; if you try to change it youre Having A Political Agenda. No, Mr Ellison is Not having any more of an agenda than putting the REASON one oaths on a bible.. it is a statement that what you are about to promise is not just to the people in attendance but to God Himself, whatever you may construe Him/Her to be.

Mr Ellison, You be what and whoever your inner flame prompts you to be, always keep the best interests of your constituents at heart, and be true to what you believe in with pure intentions and just actions. God, Allah, Iehovah, they are all the same being. If you worship one, you worship them all. Go with your honor.

Mr Goode, you are welcome to your opinion, but if it isnt positive and constructive, Shut the ---- up. Go back to your one room shack with a potbelly stove and your aunt-mom and grandpa-dad! We don't need your ignorant bigoted kind in our government.

If swearing on the bible is "just a tradition", then you have no respect for the act or the bible. If you have no respect for the bible, then you cannot be offended by swearing on the qu'ran. If you are you are a hypocrite. If you have no respect for the bible or for the act, then your word as spoken in the oath of office isn't worth anything and you have no reason to be anything but a deceptive crook. shame on you for defiling your own oath by attacking this man.

Its your kind that have destroyed the progress made since world war one - nay, since the first Americans arrived from Europe to escape the flagrant theocracy of the crown at the time.

Its your kind that makes people despise politicians.

Its your kind that will bear responsibility for future terrorist attacks on our country.

It is your kind that preaches small government and spending reductions, but had a huge hardon to pi** 90 Bi Bbb BILLION dollars down a hole in a country that NEVER ATTACKED US. This, yet your people cant find One Bearded Terrorist with liver issues who managed those who DID attack us.

Go find a run down barn somewhere in West Virginiatucky, Get your whole head in front of both barrels, and save the planet from one more theocrat. Sheesh!

We talk about Iran being crazy and deranged... This is our best effort at being that way. wait til the story about him and the paperboy in the back room with Jesus Juice breaks! or some such.

Sorry about my rant but people like Goode just make me see red!! The difference between Goode and Evil? Not Flippin Much, Ill Tell Ya!

a few more blog entries... [bumped 2 top]

2006-12-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

Hi all, the blade sent me this...

===========================================================
The Guest Book for Charlotte L. Backus will remain online until December 18, 2006, after which it will no longer be available for reading and adding entries. We want you to be aware of this should you wish to visit, print or sponsor the Guest Book prior to it going offline.

Family and friends take comfort from Guest Books and value them as a lasting way to honor loved ones. A sponsored Guest Book allows visitors to continue to add entries on anniversaries, holidays, and other occasions. To learn how to keep this Guest Book online, click on the link below or cut and paste it into your browser address bar.
http://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?I=GO000019944761

To receive or gift a hardcover or softcover printed version of the Guest Book, please click on the link below or cut and paste it into your browser address bar.
http://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?I=PG000019944761

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Legacy.com at info@legacy.com.
========================================================

If you want to post on that guestbook please do so soon.. but this one will always be here, so there you have it.

Char's guestbook

a few more blog entries...

Char greeted me when I moved into the neighborhood in 1999.Always upbeat,she knew how to get things done around here in her 9 years on the Board.I missed the service and was informed the next week of here passing.I'll miss her now but she was usually off to Florida.
It'll be in the spring for sure....
she was full of life ,full of friends ....and the rest just really doesn't matter.Sorry for your grief...jim
james steves (toledo, OH )

November 20, 2006
Char was a wonderful lady to work with. She was very professional, honest, generous and loving person. I know she will be missed by all that knew her.
Roger Rife (Swanton, OH )

November 20, 2006
Although not related, my brother and I always knew Charlotte as Aunt Char. She worked with my mother, Mary-Ethel Clement, at Gerlinger's when we were quite young. She was always a gracious host and she and my mother have remained friends for many years. I last visited with Aunt Char in 2003 during a visit to Toledo. What a shock to loose such a wonderful lady. She will be missed.
Gerald F Clement Jr (Van Nuys, CA )

November 19, 2006
I had the pleasure of working with Char at Gerlinger's twenty two plus years ago. We have been the best of friends all these years. God is getting a truly great lady. My heart and sympathy goes to all her family.
Judy Kramer (McKinney,, TX )

It was our pleasure to meet Char at Jeff and Regan's wedding. We had hoped to spend much more time with such a lovely lady. Deepest sympathies to friends and family.
Cyndy and Bruce Wulfsberg (Moorestown, NJ )

November 18, 2006
Dear Family,

I am so very sorry for you. Char was a very Special Lady and will be missed. I enjoyed working with her in Dendarah Court No. 10, L.O.S.N.A. and Orphan Annies. Of all the memories we gathered, one our favorites was working on the Grand Council Session Committee back in 1991 and 1992. Char and Foster (a wonderful Noble) were just a delight to work with.

May fond memories bring you comfort and peace in this unexpected time of sadness.

In Deepest Sympathy,

Dyane & Ken Mikolas
Dyane Mikolas (Oegon, OH )

You can't take the con from us!

2006-12-10T16:07:00.000-05:00

LA Convention... Lives!

BigDamnHeroes and the BigDamnFandom pull off true fan-run Backup Bash from the fresh ashes of Flan II..

You can't take the con from us!

How about that flanvention rescue eh? There was a con called Flan II that was supposed to take place.. it got cancelled, and ->This<- happened. Gotta be one of the coolest recoveries ever!

The Firefly fandom is a beautiful thing.

Keep Flyin', people!

1 Cast hears about cancelled con

2 Then show up anyways!

3 tribute vid made for the canned con

4 Veronica Mars star even shows up!

5 It Made CNET!?! Wow!

More updates at WHEDONESQUE and firefyfans.net

yall ready?

2006-12-07T04:25:00.000-05:00

Hosted by eSnips

heheeeeee thptt DANG eww thet wuz a biggun

original obit as published in the blade..

2006-11-21T20:04:00.000-05:00

Char's guestbook
BACKUS, Charlotte L.
Charlotte L. Backus, age 79, of Toledo, passed away Friday, November 17, 2006, in St. Anne Mercy Hospital. She was born December 22, 1926, in Toledo to Charles Sr. and Eva Houghtby. Charlotte was assistant secretary and treasurer for the former Gerlinger Equipment Company for 41 years, retiring in 1986. She was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority; Betta Nu Chapter, Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America, Toledo Symphony League, Inverness Club and The Toledo Club. Charlotte was also a member of Epworth United Methodist Church. The widow of Foster E. Backus, she is also preceded in death by her brother, Charles T. Houghtby, Jr. Charlotte is survived by step son, William F. (Kay) Backus; step grandchildren, Jason (Laura) and Jeffrey (Regan) Backus; great-granddaughter, Caroline Elizabeth Backus; cousins, Carole Smith and Janice Marks; nephews, Charles (Cheryl) Houghtby III, and Donald (Lisa) Houghtby; niece, Regena (William) Cunningham; and a host of great and great great nieces and nephews. Friends may call at the Walker Funeral Home, 5155 Sylvania Ave., (west of Corey) on Monday after 11 a.m. where funeral services will follow at 1 p.m. Interment Historic Woodlawn Cemetery. The family suggests memorials to a charity of the donor's choice. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.walkerfuneralhomes.com

2006-11-19T11:45:00.000-05:00

My Aunt Char passed peacefully Friday, 11/17/2006, of Hypoxia.

Aunt Char was always a gracious soul who put others above herself, who was always there for anyone at any time, and was just a textbook example of how a human being should be. She was entertaining and a delight to be around. She was always a great advisor and confidant and has helped many people through tough decisions. she was an asset to our family, her friends, and to people who would never know she existed, as was her late husband.

In simply words,
She was loving, caring, joyful, uplifting, royalty, and superwoman.

She passed while doing what she liked, fully aware, and On Top of Her Game.

Thank you for being my Great Aunt,and what a Great Aunt you've been!

She will be dearly missed.

pics of a girl i used to know, many years ago

2006-11-16T02:11:00.000-05:00

I was a goofy looking fellow back then... I loved her a lot.

RIP Aunt C! you will be missed more than words convey.

2006-11-16T00:23:00.000-05:00

My aunt was eating the great prime rib at a restaurant in Toledo (I know, I had it, it is absolutely melt in your mouth :) ) and choked on a piece. As far as we know [see end of this paragraph!!]someone was there doing the Heimlich on her almost immediately but it wouldn't come out. she was without oxygen for approximately 20mins, and her EEG shows no activity above the brain stem, so effectively, I just came up short one aunt.

[We are now sure someone was working on her immediately. To the Proprietor of this restaurant - No hard feelings. thanks for making her life and last few minutes better - we all appreciate all you do!]

The gist of this is that EVERYONE. EVERYWHERE. should know how to perform basic first aid. if nothing else, restaurant first aid, such as the Heimlich. NO EXCUSES!

So, Go! Go sign up for classes at your local Red Cross or Community College. Learn the materials like your life depends on it. Practice the movements, and make sure you're familiar with them, because one day it could be your family member/friend that is airway obstructed, and time is CRITICAL! There are even methods to perform it on yourself.

GET training from professionals at

http://www.redcross.org - find a chapter near you.
ask a nurse or physician where classes are held.

Here are some links to information - these are only a refresher; the only way to be truly capable is with training from a certified instructor.

http://www.heimlichinstitute.org/howtodo.html
http://firstaid.about.com/

religious freaks really bug the sH*t outta me..

2006-11-03T12:18:00.000-05:00

+
@
=

zomg wtfbbq!?!??!!1!?

Anyone who knows me knows that religious freaks, especially politically mobilized religiocrites like pat robertson, jerry fartwell, and bob jones university ppl, and most pentecostals/CHARISMAtics really bug the sH*t outta me..

same with taliban class muslims (which are nowhere NEAR as prevalent per capita as christianazis are..)..

and how i always say that the louder a religious zealot yells about how america is goin' t' hell because of decayed morality and women/minority suffrage and homu'sexuals... the likelihood of corruption and hypocrisy goes up at least in kind and then some...

and how what i 've been saying was 6 years ago considered ludicrous ramblings of a prejudiced ideologue... but now i am being vindicated..

well heres a lovely bit of evidence that supports the sanity of my sayings..

Ted Haggard: Another Demon In Deacon's Clothes

accused of gay liaison, haggard slinks off to his boyfriend..

Now. dont think this post is a knock on gay/lesbian ppl.. trust me, i share views with kinky friedman. "They have every right to be just as miserable as the rest of us". I am neither gay nor homophobic, and would not care who someone loves, be they same or opposite sex. Who this is pointed at are the nutjob hypocrites im always skewering. the ones who say that homosexuality is evil and a sin and oh theres a fine piece of ass... excuse me im gonna go git me some man-gina.. (prances off)..

so the next time some holyroller freak tells me im gonna go to hell, im gonna start laughing my ass off, while very obviously covering it with my hands and say sorrry my ass is a one way street buddy.. go find a pentecostal to pay for sex.

lol

You are a Social Liberal

2006-11-03T12:07:00.000-05:00

You are a
Social Liberal
(66% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(13% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Florida ballot terminals favor Republicans

2006-11-01T03:11:00.000-05:00

Ok now im pissed... the nazi shitheels are at it again.. i wish all neocons would just get stuffed and die.

=======================================
Florida ballot terminals favor Republicans
Even when voters don't
By Thomas C Greene in Dublin → More by this author
Published Tuesday 31st October 2006 13:15 GMT
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Florida voters using electronic ballot machines are having persistent problems choosing Democrats in early elections, the Miami Herald reports.

The touch-screen gizmos seem strangely attracted to Republican candidates. One voter needed assistance from an election official, and even then, needed three tries to convince the machine that he wanted to vote for Democrat Jim Davis in the gubernatorial race, not his Republican opponent Charlie Crist.

Another voter who went Democrat across the board kept finding Republicans listed in the summary screen. He made repeated attempts until, finally, the machine registered his votes correctly, and he cast his ballot.

Yet another frustrated voter who complained of difficulties selecting a Democrat was told that the machine she was using had been troublesome. Poll workers fiddled with it for a bit, and then it seemed to work properly.

Apparently, this happens all the time. According to the Herald, "Broward County Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney said it's not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to recalibrate them on the spot - essentially, to realign the video screen with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the poll-worker's manual."

Well that's a relief. Only we have to wonder, if the screens "slip out of sync," might other components do so as well? And why are poll workers permitted to fiddle with the machines?

Unfortunately, the article tells us little. It sounds as if the machines are of poor quality, but the paper neglects to mention the manufacturer(s) responsible for them. The elections supervisor's spokesperson seems altogether too comfortable with the notion that the machines are unreliable. 'They do that all the time?'

With early elections already underway, it looks as if Florida will again be in the headlines for the wrong reasons, as it so often is. ®

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Im sorry, NO! Just fucking no!!!!

His noodly greatness

2006-09-30T15:22:00.000-04:00

I now believe in the spicy noodleness of the Flying Spaghetti Monster . This seems to be the sage choice among the religions of the world. May you be touched by His noodly appendage and be filled with His holy marinara forever and ever. RaMen.

2006-09-05T03:17:00.000-04:00

U.S. deaths in Iraq, war on terror surpass 9/11 toll

(CNN) -- As the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States approaches, another somber benchmark has just been passed.

The announcement Sunday of four more U.S. military deaths in Iraq raises the death toll to 2,974 for U.S. military service members in Iraq and in what the Bush administration calls the war on terror.

The 9/11 attack killed 2,973 people, including Americans and foreign nationals but excluding the terrorists. The 9/11 death toll was calculated by CNN.

The comparison between fatalities in the war on terror and 9/11 was drawn last month by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"It's now almost five years since September 11, 2001," Pace said. "And the number of young men and women in our armed forces who have sacrificed their lives that we might live in freedom is approaching the number of Americans who were murdered on 9/11 in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in Pennsylvania."

Of the 2,974 U.S. military service members killed, 329 died in Operation Enduring Freedom and 2,645 in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the Pentagon. The total includes seven American civilian contractors working for the military in Iraq.

Of the 329 U.S. military deaths in the Operation Enduring Freedom campaign, 261 occurred in Afghanistan, including many in recent months amid a resurgent Taliban guerrilla campaign. Many British and Canadian troops have also been killed recently as part of the force that is operating against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

The first U.S. service member to die in the Enduring Freedom campaign was Air Force Sgt. Evander Earl Andrew, 36, of Solon, Maine, killed in a heavy equipment accident in the northern Arabian peninsula on October 10, 2001.

Operation Enduring Freedom saw 893 Americans wounded, with 552 not returned to duty.

On March 20, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq to oust the Saddam Hussein regime, which, the Bush administration said, harbored and pursued weapons of mass destruction -- munitions that were never found. While the Hussein regime was swiftly defeated, an insurgency emerged that has proved harder to handle for the U.S.-led coalition.

Of the 2,645 deaths in Iraq, 2,104 have been in combat and 541 were the results of accidents, illnesses, suicides and other factors.

The first deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom were Marines -- four killed in a helicopter crash on March 20, 2003, and two killed in action in southern Iraq the next day.

In Iraq, 19,773 U.S. military personnel were wounded, with 8,991 not returning to duty. Many military and medical observers believe that advanced and prompt medical care saved hundreds, or even thousands, of lives.

Operation Iraqi Freedom casualties include deaths and injuries on or after March 19, 2003, in the Arabian Sea, Bahrain, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Persian Gulf, Qatar, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. Before March 19, 2003, the casualties in these countries were considered part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Bush administration has consistently linked the Afghan and Iraq conflicts as part of an overall war on terror -- a much-debated idea since many critics of the Bush administration say the Hussein regime was never involved in sponsoring the al Qaeda terror network.

In the post-invasion period, though, terror groups -- including al Qaeda in Iraq -- have emerged, regularly conducting ruthless attacks against coalition and Iraqi military personnel and civilians.

Thursday, Bush emphasized that "Iraq is the central front in this war on terror." (Full story)

"If we leave the streets of Baghdad before the job is done, we will have to face the terrorists in our own cities. We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century."(From Orange County to al Qaeda)

The death tolls in both conflicts are expected to rise.

"We've come a long way in Afghanistan. We've come a long way in Iraq and elsewhere in the war on terrorism," said Pace. "We have a long way to go. We are a nation at war."

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/03/death.toll/index.html

immigration woes

2006-08-22T00:22:00.000-04:00

Someone I know fwded this to me... ====================================

((
What a country.................................
5 million of our older Americans have not signed up yet for their Medicare, Part D, drug plan------they are old and confused. We are not going to grant them an extension. However, 12 million illegal aliens are in our country and we are going to allow them to stay, protest, procreate, receive support monies, attend schools, avoid paying income taxes, have our teachers take 300 hours of ESL (English as a Second Language) training at our expense, etc. WE MUST REALLY DISLIKE OUR OLD PEOPLE......OR WE MUST REALLY LOVE TACOS!!! If it upsets you, pass it on!!
))

====================================

My response

Dont forget the support monies recieved by the white trailer trash in hillsdale and the UP during the off season.. and the farmer who cant sell his crops because the telcos wont provide opportunity of internet anywhere but to big cities while they continue to collect 100% tax on phone service called the universal service fee... The south of the border ppl do all those jobs that white people are too superior to do like pick cotton and scrub toilets and buff the floors at wally/meijer and mow yards and build big box stores.. the ppl building cvs where main stop was are almost all mexican.

And so-called drug plans are a joke. They are confusing. you cant use one card while on another plan and you cant get this plan if you have that plan and the other card. and theyre only good for drugs that are commoditized and worthless to the phizers of the world. its a way to keep everything exactly how it is and not actually address the problems the elderly and retirees face. will a drug plan cover glasses or cancer treatment or help with housing for someone who cant do stairs anymore? nah it feeds big pharma the medicare dole, thats all. the people making these despicable decisions are so far removed from the poverty of the american elderly that they have no clue how to make them right. im amazed that anyone over 50 would ever support these morons let alone not want to bludgeon them all to death with their canes and walkers and slice them to ribbons with their drug cards

LOL..

A few mexicans getting the nutritionally barren iceberg lettuce and air gapped tomatoes out of the fields so that timmy and suzy can have their mcdonalds hamburgers for being good children in walmart is the least of our worries. If we simply had a national health care plan there wouldnt be a problem. Alas, we have leadership that wont even allow people to go fill their 'scrips in canada because of the pharma-co's fist in their you didnt want to know where...

40-50 years ago it was "the negroes" and now its "the mexicans". I dont see any of these neocon hypocrites bitching about china!>? i mean at least they have labor laws in mexico.. china you get thrown in the gulag if you dont meet your quota of IPODs for little Shelly Shakeit to listen to her Usher iTunes on while Joey the captain of the football team feels her up.

Oh and one more thing - the 10th largest contributor to americas failure of a war on terror(im now guffawing uncontrollably)..

Is Mexico.

Puh Lease :)

2006-08-19T19:07:00.000-04:00

Accordion to sophos antivirus via El Reg, its time to exterminate the vole and get a mac...

Security firm Sophos has issued a call for home computer users to ditch the Windows operating system and switch to Macs for the sake of their safety online.

And this stat from McAfee, 200,000 malwarez in their database, doubled from '04 - and 18yrs for the first 100,000, seems to drive it home.

Face it - Winders is Broke!

Anti-virus firm McAfee released protection for its 200,000th ever malware threat this week.
While bots are still the leading cause of this dramatic growth, exploits and downloaders are a close second (see breakdown here). Email worms saw significantly smaller growth over the last two years compared to types of malware.

2006-08-19T17:47:00.000-04:00

Thar gew them thar akt'visst jedges agin', those anti-americans....

from the moron hick prezdint d'partment

NSA wiretaps ruled illegal
Judge orders program halted; U.S. to appeal

By Gail Gibson, Tribune Newspapers. Baltimore Sun; Sun staff writers Julie Davis and Siobhan Gorman and Tribune news services contributed to this report
Published August 18, 2006

A federal judge in Detroit on Thursday struck down the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, calling it unconstitutional and an illegal abuse of presidential power. The ruling marked the first court rejection of the controversial monitoring program and amounted to a rebuke of the Bush administration's tactics in the war on terrorism.

"In this case, the president has acted, undisputedly, as [federal intelligence law] forbids," U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor said in a 43-page decision that sided with the American Civil Liberties Union challenge to the government system of warrantless eavesdropping. "Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution."

Taylor ordered an immediate halt to the NSA's surveillance program, but the order was put on hold after Justice Department attorneys swiftly filed a notice of appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In Washington, the ruling quickly became election-year fodder. Republicans said they hoped an appeals court will overturn the decision--with which "we couldn't disagree more," said White House Press Secretary Tony Snow--while Democrats praised it.

"The administration is wrongly convinced that it can run the country without Congress or oversight," said Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales defended the surveillance program as "very important for the security of the country," adding: "We have confidence in the lawfulness of this program."

The ruling was a major legal setback for the Bush administration. Some legal scholars and analysts said the decision could be vulnerable on appeals, but it was cheered Thursday by the attorneys, journalists and non-profit organizations that claimed the possibility of government eavesdropping had complicated their efforts to communicate with some sources and clients overseas.

Anthony Romero, the ACLU's executive director, called the ruling "another nail in the coffin of the Bush administration's legal strategy in the war on terror."

"It is a flat rejection of secret government," Romero said. "It is a flat rejection of an all-powerful president running roughshod over the judiciary and over the legislative branches. And it is a reaffirmation of a system of checks and balances."

In her decision, Taylor said the NSA program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a 1978 law that prohibited intelligence monitoring of people inside the United States without a warrant. The judge, appointed to the federal court in Detroit by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, also said the program violated 1st and 4th Amendment protections of free speech and privacy, and she criticized the program as an overly broad reach of executive power.

"It was never the intent of the Framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights," Taylor wrote in the decision. "The three separate branches of government were developed as a check and balance for one another."

Justice Department attorneys had argued at a hearing in Detroit last month that the lawsuit should be thrown out because the litigation could expose sensitive state secrets if it went forward. In Thursday's ruling, the judge said the state secrets privilege did not apply in this case. She said she could rule on the program's legality based on statements and information released by the White House in recent months as it has defended the once-secret program made public by New York Times reports late last year.

"The Bush administration has repeatedly told the general public that there is a valid basis in law for the [surveillance program]," Taylor wrote. "This court finds defendants' arguments that they cannot defend this case without the use of classified information to be disingenuous and without merit."

Legal analysts said the ruling marked a shift in the willingness of the nation's courts to challenge the president's broad claims of executive power since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"In the first few years after 9/11, what we saw was extreme deference to the government and an unwillingness in the courts to question the government's claims, and I think this shows the courts are not willing to be closed out," said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel for the National Security Archive at George Washington University. "In that sense, I think it is a turning point."

However, Robert Levy, a legal analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Taylor's findings are at risk of being overturned. He noted that the claims involving 1st and 4th Amendment violations require a court to balance those protections against national security interests, an impossible task without more information about the surveillance program's scope, effectiveness and operational details.

"In order to find out about those facts, you run up against the state secrets prohibition," Levy said.

For the day, though, Taylor's ruling was political grist for Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said the decision "confirms the doubts I have had about the program's constitutionality ever since I first learned about it." He urged the White House to work with Congress to make changes to the program.

"No one is against wiretapping suspected terrorists," Biden said. "The question is how to bring this program within the law." Republican leaders, meanwhile, urged the White House to fight for the program in court.

"Terrorists are the real threat to our constitutional and democratic freedoms, not the law-enforcement and intelligence tools used to keep America safe," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said in a statement. "We need to strengthen, not weaken, our ability to foil terrorist plots before they can do us harm."

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

Thats right, I didnt write this! its not mine. Don't shoot the messenger.

A friend of mine asked me what a blog was....

2006-06-29T23:07:00.000-04:00

So I showed him. My guess, he hasnt signed up yet but prolly will, is that it will likely be named potato or batata or something. We've been best spuds for a long time LOL WAKKA WAKKA.

mtv...

2006-05-02T20:16:00.000-04:00

Original Poster
Today, 2:24am
mtv...
i am so sickened by MTV.

Moreover, the parents who acquiesce to appear on MTV.

Examples:
1. My Super Sweet 16 - this show documents teenage girls (i do not know that there's ever been a boy's party..) whose parents are ridiculously wealthy and throw these exorbitant parties for their teenage birthdays. Tracks the process, including choosing outfits, choreographing entrances, drama over invitations, etc. These parties run well over $50,000 average. Most of the parents, fathers especially, cannot say no, and when a parent tries, he is pouted at until the rich bitch gets her way.

2. Tiara Girls - Follows pageant hopefuls in their trek from average girl to crown winner. Parents are overbearing, constantly pointing out flaws, calling daughter fat when she is barely a size 2, refusing to allow daughters to live and enjoy life. Also spend outrageous sums to ensure daughter wins, daughter is taught to be cutthroat competitive and that 90% of their self-worth is physical.

3. Date My Mom - eligible bachelors meet three moms and choose to date one of the moms' daughters based on the appearance and personality of the mom. Mothers seem to enjoy telling suitors exactly what daughter least wants them to know, making asses out of themselves and daughters.

4. Parental Control - Parents disenchanted with teenager's current choice of significant other choose two suitors to date their daughter. Parents watch the entire date at home with unfavored S.O. Parents are crude, rude, openly disrespectful to teenage partner, and vice versa.

...WTF. Parents aren't like that. People like that don't exist.. do they?

I will admit, my parents are indulgent. They'd like me to casually date more people. Above all, they're the most lax, chilled people when it comes to letting me make my own decisions. But I would be mortified if they acted in any way like the MTV parents, especially the overindulgent ones.

I really don't want to believe people like this exist.

Also, a note on pageants: if I were an interviewer, I'd ask questions like, "What happened after Moses built the ark?" and "What year did Washington write the declaration of independence?" just to fuck with them. :D go linguistics.

person 1, 19M, Straight, Michigan, United States; 70% match, 69% friend, Today, 2:37am:

your right parents like that arent really around to my knoledge either and the sweet 16 thing sad thing is they had a guy on there i think he was gay im not sure and then date my mom theres never any girls going after a guys mom thats gay why not a date my dad also another show damage control pisses me off if my parents were watching something like that with me theyd be pissed at the studio more so than me so what im trying to say is mtv sucks ass and need to just play good shows

person 2, 22M, Straight, Tennessee, United States; 72% match, 72% friend, Today, 2:41am:

I hear you. Then there was that show "Wanna Come In?" Didn't involve any failures of parents, just two teams of "a loser and a player" competing to see which one could get their loser invited into a particular woman's home first. How many people can we be degrading to at once? I like your pageant idea.

person 3, 21F, Bisexual, Flushing, New York, United States; 69% match, 74% friend, Today, 2:48am:

you're awesome. haha..and MTV really should be changed to STV.....for shitastic TV....or maybey just shit would be more accurate....or maybey they could just broadcast an artistic rendering of a pile o poo 24/7. That would be ten times less mind numbing then the crap they have on their now. *pun not intended at first but then self-approved* :-P.

person 4 , 23M, Straight, Los Angeles, California, United States; 66% match, 70% friend, Today, 2:54am:

...yet you WATCH it? I've never heard of any of these shows; but that they exist don't surprise me at all. MTV should change their name to...well...i guess Fox.

person 5, 24M, Straight, Auckland, New Zealand; 68% match, 75% friend, Today, 3:34am:

Not to utterly concur with your musing on television as an entertainment medium (mostly cos I work in TV) but yeah, Im VERY VERY glad my tiny country does not recieve mtv or those shows you have discribed. It also re-affirms my belief that entertainment as television is... crap...

person 6, 25M, Straight, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States; 78% match, 76% friend, Today, 4:30am:

I haven't been able to stand MTV for years. Abotu the time Undressed and Daria went away, I lost interest. THeir programming seems to be vaguelt related to music at best these days and more about about peopel I just want to slap across the face.

person 7, 26M, Straight, Tampa, Florida, United States; 62% match, 67% friend, Today,12:13pm:

You left out "Made" where teenagers get 6 weeks to abandon their personality in favor of one that's more appropriate. Okay, some of the "Made" episodes are well-done, but most are a sad take on what we as a society approve of. Also, I would say Fox is a bit better, if anything for the excellent Family Guy and House.

Moi, 30M, Straight, Michigan, United States; 0% match, 0% friend, 17 minutes ago:

tv outside of mtv is s**t, mtv is lower-than-S**t. If a big putrid chunk of feces had to relieve itself, i mean it was prairie doggin' it, MTV would be the sticky tear cried from the brown eye of mr hankie. When MTV stopped playing Music, they should have been required to change their name to RTV for Rap. and then when That went to the wayside, it should have been just like FTV or something. Fecal Television. All Shit. All The Time. -----

Kudos to #5, #4(Fox is synonymous with Steamy Dung. Fudger trAiles and Poopert Turdoch are the biggest sallet tossers I have ever seen), #3(but #3 when you post something like this, you should lie about your city.. Flushing is much too painfully on topic [No offense intended, rather, Hugs/Kisses for the bellylaughs from the coincidence]). #6, I beat ya. I quit after beavis and Butthead, the last GOOD show on MTV.

Moi! , 30M, Straight, Michigan, United States; 0% match, 0% friend, 12 minutes ago:

Twas with very strong power of will that the short-lived RTV era was not .. lumped(hehe).. in with the era of ordure.. I think 99 percent of rap is manure, being less than reagent grade purity owing to black eyed peas and beastie boys.

Moi! , 30M, Straight, Michigan, United States; 0% match, 0% friend, just now:

But then again (hehe.. I said BUT.. mhe ehhe).. Reality Teevee in general is a Myspace-Esque evidential exhibit of Complete Un-Creativity on the part of the purveyors, and the Complete Incapability of the Mindless Sheep Masses to find more fruitful uses of their time like volunteering, reading, a life, or (gasp) a JOB. It's Evercrack(Everquest) for the Boob Toob! I find that Ron Popeil is more ingenuitive with Just One of his infomercials at 3am than American Idol is in a Whole Season of Simon's blithering, Paula's Butt, or Ruben's bellerin'. Got one word for that genre - BAAAAAAAaaa! Thats my rant an' I'm stickin to it.

Sign Now to Lower Gas Prices!

2006-05-01T23:16:00.000-04:00

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-22080-141415--,00.html Click Here to Sign

Sign Now to Lower Gas Prices!

95% of gas stations in Michigan are locally owned. They aren’t big oil and they are struggling with these high costs too.
Sign-up
to lower gas prices
Michigan drivers are again facing the reality of $3-per-gallon gas - it’s time for President Bush and leaders in Washington to stop watching and start protecting us from the skyrocketing cost of gasoline! It's just not right that big oil companies should be allowed to hold customers hostage to outrageously expensive gas; they rake in billions in record-setting profits while consumers are left with no option but to pay ever-increasing prices.

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-22080-141415--,00.html Click Here to Sign

Consider these facts:

* The average price for unleaded gasoline is 64 cents higher than the same time last year.
* ExxonMobil reported a $36.1 billion in profit, making it the largest corporation in the world and larger than the next four companies on the Forbes 500 list combined.
* Oil prices have increased 240 percent since George Bush’s inauguration in January 2001.

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-22080-141415--,00.html Click Here to Sign

Nearly eight months ago, I and a group of concerned Governors urged the President to take action to bring down the sky-high prices of gasoline at America's gas pumps. We urged the President to bring the price of gas down for consumers by capping oil profits and using federal anti-trust laws to prosecute any companies pocketing extra profits in the wake of disasters like Hurricane Katrina. We also asked Congress to investigate energy profiteering and pass legislation requiring oil companies to refund excess oil profits to consumers.

If you agree with me that consumers need relief now, please join me in signing this online petition to the President urging him to cap excessive gasoline profits.

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-22080-141415--,00.html Click Here to Sign

food of the day

2006-03-19T20:26:00.000-05:00

mmm radishes. I L<3VE radishes! especially cold radishes. I got a $.99 for a bunch with leaves and feeder root still attached - I had to 'clean' them - and they were mucho bueno and stuff. i slew like 5 of the 25 while i was cleaning them(oh this one has a blemish - ill have to cut it off and eat it now.. it fell on the plate too hard and will bruise - down the hatch yumyumyum.. and other justifications LOL), and a few more while my supper was nuking (make an even number for the original purpose). I will have 5-7 chopped up on a Massive Salad of ])()()]V[(tm) tomorrow as well! OhYeah!

K O T O K O

2006-03-19T00:11:00.000-05:00

Wow! I just watched her 2004 Winter concert in Tokyo and it was teh awesome! She is capable of doing tunes from classic 80s JPop to modern cross-genre electronica to screaming guitar stuff ala Judy and Mary! W00t

according to some people..

2006-03-15T00:22:00.000-05:00

....Whose opinions i respect immensely.

Hi from the land of idiotic server reloads!

I think I figured out something about myself...

Re: Why I build watches to state the time..

When I was young, like 12 or less (since then they save themselves the headache and give me the whole answer) , I was always given "because I said so" or "just because" or whatever, when told to do something.. I always violently hated that with a passion, like being told "You're too little or not smart enough.. you wouldnt understand", or the like.

I always despised being told I was incurably incapable of doing something or understanding something just because of age or experience, or the dreaded "just because". I hate that to this day.

So as a compensation for that; In defiant rebellion of that; I refuse to do these things to others because I hated being treated that way myself. Doing so would go against the core programming that defines Who Charles Thomas Houghtby IV Is.

This is why I always say things like "I dont care how old/young you are you're still capable of X Y or Z, I mean, c'mon.. My grandpa Creager is eightyX and he can do it, and I was doing these things at four, so anyone is capable of doing it" when someone says "I cant learn this because I am too old/young for that". In fact I get upset For the person when they say it.

This is also why I get irate when people denigrate their own intelligence or position importance at work.

I don't mean to ramble but check my pulse if ever I don't.

tick. tick. tick. tick. tick. tick. tick. ...
There. Wrap THAT watch around your wrist and time an egg with it! :)

Bono's Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast

2006-03-09T03:02:00.000-05:00

Bono's best sermon yet: Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast

If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast,
well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that
cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which
leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic
complex.

Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation.
Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something
unnatural...something unseemly...about rock stars mounting the pulpit
and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in
the south of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough
when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert...but this is really weird,
isn't it?

You know, one of the things I love about this country is its
separation of church and state. Although I have to say: in inviting me
here, both church and state have been separated from something else
completely: their mind.

Mr. President, are you sure about this?
It's very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be
warned - I'm Irish.
I'd like to talk about the laws of man, here in this city where
those laws are written. And I'd like to talk about higher laws. It would
be great to assume that the one serves the other; that the laws of man
serve these higher laws...but of course, they don't always. And I
presume that, in a sense, is why you're here.

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here -
Muslims, Jews, Christians - all are searching our souls for how to
better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God.

I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led
me here, too.
Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here - but maybe it's odder for me
than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe
it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a
mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was,
quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state
was...well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays... and
my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from
my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the
way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people,
in the name of God, did to my native land...and in this country, seeing
God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering
indulgences for cash...in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-
righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the
religious establishment...

I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.
Even though I was a believer.
Perhaps because I was a believer.

I was cynical...not about God, but about God's politics. (There
you are, Jim.)
Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British
Christians went and ruined my shtick - my reproachfulness. They did it
by describing the millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an
opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people.
They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call - and were joined by Pope
John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have
had a more direct line to the Almighty.
'Jubilee' - why 'Jubilee'?

What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lord's favor?

I'd always read the scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it
was in Leviticus (25:35)...

'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot
maintain himself...you shall maintain him.... You shall not lend him
your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.'

It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his
ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis,
impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever
guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much...yet. He hasn't spoken in
public before...

When he does, His first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good
news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour,
the year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18).

What he was really talking about was an era of grace - and we're
still in it.

So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made
incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me
club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to
get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow
their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like
me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like
these church people.

But then my cynicism got another helping hand.

It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest
W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious
community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could
only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on
children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections
were married, faithful women.

Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back!

But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the
church got busy on this the leprosy of our age.

Love was on the move. Mercy was on the move.
God was on the move.

Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met,
never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out
with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn
sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country
stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!

Popes were seen wearing sunglasses!

Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!

Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit.

It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks.

When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened
- and acted. When churches starting organizing, petitioning, and even -
that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying...on AIDS and
global health, governments listened - and acted.

I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you
changed policy; you changed the world.

Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He
exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place
for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.

I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I
hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff.
Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and
ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play
house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with
a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under
the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives,
and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from
your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if
you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like
midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire
in scorched places."

It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is
mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of
air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental
is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of
these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say,
good news to the poor.

Here's some good news for the president. After 9/11 we were told
America would have no time for the world's poor. America would be taken
up with its own problems of safety. And it's true these are dangerous
times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked the doors.

In fact, you have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding
for global health. Mr. President, your emergency plan for AIDS relief
and support for the Global Fund - you and Congress - have put 700,000
people onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and provided 8 million bed
nets to protect children from malaria.

Outstanding human achievements. Counterintuitive. Historic. Be
very, very proud.

But here's the bad news. From charity to justice, the good news is
yet to come. There is much more to do. There's a gigantic chasm between
the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.

And finally, it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about
justice.

Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice.

And that's too bad.

Because you're good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are
good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't
afford it.

But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea
of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our
pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.

Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a
preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug
store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality.

Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa
and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that
Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept
it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000
lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In
Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And
it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.

It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they?
Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

You know, think of those Jewish sheep-herders going to meet the
Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh says, "Equal?" A
preposterous idea: rich and poor are equal? And they say, "Yeah,
'equal,' that's what it says here in this book. We're all made in the
image of God."

And eventually the Pharaoh says, "OK, I can accept that. I can
accept the Jews - but not the blacks."

"Not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way, man."

So on we go with our journey of equality.

On we go in the pursuit of justice.

We hear that call in the ONE Campaign, a growing movement of more
than 2 million Americans...Left and Right together... united in the
belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.

We hear that call even more powerfully today, as we mourn the loss
of Coretta Scott King - mother of a movement for equality, one that
changed the world but is only just getting started. These issues are as
alive as they ever were; they just change shape and cross the seas.

Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products
while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue.
Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's
a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to
the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue.

And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the
subject.

That's why I say there's the law of the land¿. And then there is a
higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to
write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our
agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn
a living?

As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.

God will not accept that.

Mine won't, at least. Will yours?

[ pause]

I close this morning on...very...thin...ice.

This is a dangerous idea I've put on the table: my God vs. your
God, their God vs. our God...vs. no God. It is very easy, in these
times, to see religion as a force for division rather than unity.

And this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division.

But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to
Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come
together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.

This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is
not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to
any one faith.

'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus
says that.

'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of
love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the
wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The
Koran says that (2.177).

Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house,
when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like
the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord
will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.'
Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In
countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's
blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it¿. I
have a family, please look after them¿. I have this crazy idea...

And this wise man said: stop.

He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.

Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what
God is doing.

And that is what he's calling us to do.

I was amazed when I first got to this country and I learned how
much some churchgoers tithe. Up to 10% of the family budget. Well, how
does that compare with the federal budget, the budget for the entire
American family? How much of that goes to the poorest people in the
world? Less than 1%.

Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America:

I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective
foreign assistance as tithing.... Which, to be truly meaningful, will
mean an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor.

What is 1%?

1% is not merely a number on a balance sheet.

1% is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you.
1% is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you. 1% is the
African entrepreneur who can start a small family business thanks to
you. 1% is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a
rat hole. This 1% is digging waterholes to provide clean water.

1% is a new partnership with Africa, not paternalism toward
Africa, where increased assistance flows toward improved governance and
initiatives with proven track records and away from boondoggles and
white elephants of every description.

America gives less than 1% now. We're asking for an extra 1% to
change the world. to transform millions of lives - but not just that and
I say this to the military men now - to transform the way that they see us.

1% is national security, enlightened economic self-interest, and a
better, safer world rolled into one. Sounds to me that in this town of
deals and compromises, 1% is the best bargain around.

These goals - clean water for all; school for every child;
medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty -
these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals,
which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the
Beatitudes for a globalised world.

Now, I'm very lucky. I don't have to sit on any budget committees.
And I certainly don't have to sit where you do, Mr. President. I don't
have to make the tough choices.

But I can tell you this:

To give 1% more is right. It's smart. And it's blessed.

There is a continent - Africa - being consumed by flames.

I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age
will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital
revolution, and what we did - or did not to - to put the fire out in Africa.

History, like God, is watching what we do.

Thank you. Thank you, America, and God bless you all.

I'm probably not a Republican

2006-03-07T11:51:00.000-05:00

The Republicans Are All Queer Test
More Left than Right
Your faggotry levels are at 0%

You're probably not a Republican, but who knows, you still could be pretty gay. In fact, you probably are. Homo.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 0% on Faggotry

Link: The Republicans Are All Queer Test written by leelander on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

I'm pretty fucked for the next four years

2006-03-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

Pretty fucked
11 is your Fuckedness Number! Crazy!

You're pretty fucked for the next four years. Why? I don't know, maybe it's because you're actually smart and have real actual morals, and not just the fake Christian kind. Maybe you're a minority. Whatever the reason, you've got fairly high levels of fuckedness. Prepare yourself. It's gonna be a rough 4 years.

Take my Republicans Are All Queers Test! Guarenteed to offend someone!
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=10429819748314967241

This test tracked 1 variable. How the score compared to the other people's:

Higher than 26% on Fuckedness

Link: The How Fucked by Bush You Are Test written by leelander on Ok Cupid

///News Flash///

2006-03-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

----News Flash----
Dubya has plummeted to 34%
it is now official that Katrina was a world class screwup

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/03/02/publiceye/entry1364188.shtml

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katrina2mar02,0,2406896,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030101731.html

and iraq will likely end with our troops being sniped at while on the run to leave :)
and no fault of the troops either.. as i have previously stated, i cite vietnam.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article348925.ece

http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2006/03/why-bush-is-in-trouble.html

ROFLMAO! and AHHHHHNold is currently at 40%.
Our Presidential Stand-in is currently at a lower rating than the joke of the left coast

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/13997507.htm

/me guffawing like a mad fiend....

My Alignment..

2006-02-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

You are a
Social Liberal
(80% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(16% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist

You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness. loc: (112, -125)
modscore: (10, 48)
raw: (1345)

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

2006-02-11T01:32:00.000-05:00

memety thing (gacked from luriko-ysabeth.livejournal.com)

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, (even if we don't speak often) please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me.
It can be anything you want -good or bad- BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.
When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON'T ACTUALLY remember about you.

----from the just cuz its funny dept...---
But only tattooed b*7ches need apply - J/K
(seen on a '79 delta 88 back window with a bungeed trunk and blue smoke chuffing out... ghetto ride)

\\// peace out m0f0

whos on first!?

2006-02-11T00:56:00.000-05:00

Now HERES a good show.. who gets shafted in this one. i dont know.... THIRD BASE!!!!!

http://www.beabetterhitter.com/text/funstuff/abbott/abbott.htm

but ultimately im with the shortstop. I don't give a darn!

sex and the city et al

2006-02-10T23:54:00.000-05:00

i just realized why i dont get into this stuff...

Can someone who liked this show and seriously is a nobody or not married or whatever - please explain to me how this is supposed to be more enjoyable than the breakfast club, macgyver, napoleon dynamite, romy and michelle, or the like?!?

i mean how could any of the cast have the BRASS to whine about "oh the models are sooo pretty and young and can (and do) do anything/anyone they want?" and then the working shlub guys or the loser guys who want to give them their genuine best their soul had to give, get married, be committed, and have a deeper relationship than a water puddle in the mojave.. get shafted like the gimp in a gay bar!?!?

i mean wtf. is it socially illegal that i will still be a successful member of society after these people have moved to paradiso perduto in the glades to whine about their handsome hunk boyfriend stiffing them at the altar(great expectations). that type of shallowness.. do remember that you will have YOUR paradiso awaiting you too, so fear not the schlub, the schlubs are loyal, the jet setters are only happy til their jet jet departs again ;D..

I will be updating this over time.

ttfn :)

how to make debian woody and later pass a given protocol outbound

2006-02-09T15:49:00.000-05:00

iptables -A OUTPUT -o eth1 -p tcp -s internal_network/24 --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

put this line in the /etc/ipmasq/C00chains.rul file to allow ssh outbound - change poirt and /24 network to fit your needs SHEEEEEEEIT~!!!!!!!WTFBBQ!>?!?!?!?!?!

LIONS Boy!!!

2005-11-24T08:38:00.000-05:00

BEER N LIONS you Sumbitch! [waves fist in air] waRARABRBBABABBEBARRABRRBR BUD LITE WRARARRBWBAAEABBABAA STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM WABARARARAAAABABAAA scaaAAAAATTTTT bring me nother beer!!

AWWWW DADD.....

...SHUDDUP BOY and Get me another longneck!!

Why use an alternative browser at your company(and yes, PLEASE DO!)??

2005-11-08T00:47:00.000-05:00

If you need anecdotal evidence why Opera or other alternative browsers should be allowed to be installed and/or installed by blanket policy, I gots that too!

I'm the IT director for rapid appraisal, inc (http://www.rapidapprasial.com), and I had a problem that was easily solved with Mozilla.. but this can be used to push _ANY_ alternative browser..

Two weeks ago a co-worker of mine accidentally clicked a link !off of www.yahoo.com! and, without confirmations or any notice whatsoever, infected our entire terminal server. 6hrs, a company-wide bitch-session, and a pot o' joe later, termsvr was clean and SANS-I.E.!! Any of our sites that require IE were created as shortcuts - "iexplore.exe http://foo/bar.asp".

I have now seen a 20% reduction in memory usage and a 60% reduction in CPU. IE is horribly inefficient. and also, popups are no longer an issue! yay!

oh and no relapses.

The infection pathogen was MySearch bar and it's outlook parasite, one of the harder bugs to get rid of.

all casual surfing and research in terminal services is now done using an alternative browser under penalties of i revoke their access if i catch anyone in IE for anything other than sites I've approved. and i watch histories.

There ya go, tell that to your it guy. If necessary hes more than welcome to email me via my blog.

blogger post bodies redux

2005-11-08T00:27:00.000-05:00

GACK WTF?! why the hell arent my post bodies showing up when posted with opera anymore!!!??? SUCK S**t thru a Short Straw!!??!!

and i Refuse to not use opera.

I have found a workaround for the time being.. at the top of blogger sites there is usually a bar that allows you to search and has a button called BlogThis!. using the BlogThis button allows body and subject to post successfully.

Version 8.5
Build 1358
Platform Linux
System i686, 2.6.11.4-20a-default
Qt library 3.3.4
Java Java Runtime Environment installed
Browser identification

Opera/8.5 (X11; Linux i686; U; en)

blogger post bodies

2005-11-07T00:43:00.000-05:00

GACK WTF?! why the hell arent my post bodies showing up when posted with opera anymore!!!??? SUCK S**t thru a Short Straw!!??!!11

Briddes Roune

2005-11-01T01:50:00.000-05:00

http://magnatune.com/artists/briddes_roune

two of the three hold PhDs in scince related fields and the third was headed that way

Robin Snyder: Voice, Harp and arrangements
Ph.D. in statistical physics, June 2001.
Currently ass't professor of biology at Case Western Reserve University and was a postdoc researcher at UC Davis in the evolution and ecology section.

Robin Houston: Harp and Recorder
Ph.D. Veterinary parasitologist at UC Davis.

Kathryn Canan
B.S. in Biology

Yet another example of how the best science related people are almost invariably musicians or artists as well.. further confirming the concept, that at the pinnacle of ars et scientia, the two streams of consciousness merge perfectly.

Even language is a science and music is very mathematical.

Later!

tatu again

2005-10-07T21:56:00.000-04:00

Preface: This opinion was formed long before i found out the bicurious controversy that they might be lesbians...

OMG these girls have lit a fire under the concept of 'pop''s dead ass!! not since the 80s has there been such powerful stuff. All that they call pop nowadays is just, well, lame background music.. i mean aside from select celine dion tracks, and what avril lavigne could be if she wasnt a milli vanilli fake.. granted avril is a big conflict for me.. i despise what she stands for but love her music.. shes a fraud and doesnt even play guitar for real.. but her tunes just lock with my brain.. and shes pure hot topic.. but i cant not listen and like..; she wouldnt know a THING about real punk. yet i cant stop listening to her stuff.. GRRR why cant her cds just suck black and whitely like bwitney thpeeohs (britney spears with a fwee yeah owd's lithp, overexaggerating stupid teenerism..) or trailer-Trashlee simpson who couldnt even arrange for the correct canned song to lip sync to (cant perform live to save her UV-Fried mall-cosmeticated skin - shes already got crows feet at ?! 21 !? ).

Now Julia and Elena, THEY can really sing and sing for real. i mean ' \ , , / \ , , / both-hands-in-the-air-must-not-be-able-to-hear-them-sing-live-anyway-'cause-the-crowd-is-going-NUTS' really sing!!! I think Sarah Brightman regularly gets that response... and Santana.. and from what little ive heard from her, janis joplin and joan jett could belt it out and get the audience to do anything!! hair bands too... but as far as power chix go, tatu, celine and sarah have the globe by its gnads and its adrenal glands! its like auditory d-crystal meth..

All About Us is the best english track ive heard in a long time..

take that ms. little-blondie-white-girl-with-a-mexican-name-and-a-big-ghetto-booty Christina Aguilera and that housekeeper-harlot jhey low!!!! you and all your cash cow cronies suck compared to tATu! Now go home to your record company bought mansions and O.D. on MDMA and Mad Dog!!

positive, negative, negative..

2005-10-07T00:14:00.000-04:00

But the positive is emotionally/mentally far bigger than the negative..

i spose these could be split into three posts, but in the name of saving post header space, theyre grouped.

Positive:
tATu's new albums "All About Us" single, "Dangerous and Moving" and "Ludi Invalidi" Albums are unreal mind blowingly cool. Richard Carpenter even got involved with one of their songs! I also just discovered they either got mashupped or collaborated proper with |RAMMS+EIN+| !!! And the end product just stands hair on back of neck on end `XD !! I think their stuff kicks so much FATTOUSH it could bring back I-Be-Bangin'! and if Elena's hair gets any redder it's going to blow my freakin MIND!! I dont need drugs as long as there is red hair, pale skin and freckles in the world BWARRRRRNNG!!! if i am ever sentenced to death by the neonazi puppet government, let it be DEATH BY REDHEAD!! 8D

Negative:
That spineless (like a man-of-war(is that coinkidink for real!?!?) jellyfish but far less intelligent and more poisonous) bastard son of someone who should have had a sloppy pre-Roe back-alley abortion and whose father, saddam hussein, and dubya all have something in common (none of 'em knew when to PULL OUT!!), Karl Rove is der Kommissar of Kocksuchers and should be quite reason enough for joisey to bring back the 'lectric chair BZZzzZZZrzZRZzZTtZZttZZtTT!! FRY BY@tcH!!! heres why - clickme mahfah!

Negative:
well, someone has FINALLY confirmed a hunk of my views on the american god squad and religious zealotry in general...

The dark side of faith
By ROSA BROOKS
IT'S OFFICIAL: Too much religion may be a dangerous thing.

This is the implication of a study reported in the current issue of the Journal of Religion and Society, a publication of Creighton University's Center for the Study of Religion. The study, by evolutionary scientist Gregory S. Paul, looks at the correlation between levels of "popular religiosity" and various "quantifiable societal health" indicators in 18 prosperous democracies, including the United States.

Paul ranked societies based on the percentage of their population expressing absolute belief in God, the frequency of prayer reported by their citizens and their frequency of attendance at religious services. He then correlated this with data on rates of homicide, sexually transmitted disease, teen pregnancy, abortion and child mortality.

He found that the most religious democracies exhibited substantially higher degrees of social dysfunction than societies with larger percentages of atheists and agnostics. Of the nations studied, the U.S. — which has by far the largest percentage of people who take the Bible literally and express absolute belief in God (and the lowest percentage of atheists and agnostics) — also has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

This conclusion will come as no surprise to those who have long gnashed their teeth in frustration while listening to right-wing evangelical claims that secular liberals are weak on "values." Paul's study confirms globally what is already evident in the U.S.: When it comes to "values," if you look at facts rather than mere rhetoric, the substantially more secular blue states routinely leave the Bible Belt red states in the dust.

Murder rates? Six of the seven states with the highest 2003 homicide rates were "red" in the 2004 elections (Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina), while the deep blue Northeastern states had murder rates well below the national average. Infant mortality rates? Highest in the South and Southwest; lowest in New England. Divorce rates? Marriages break up far more in red states than in blue. Teen pregnancy rates? The same.

Of course, the red/blue divide is only an imperfect proxy for levels of religiosity. And while Paul's study found that the correlation between high degrees of religiosity and high degrees of social dysfunction appears robust, it could be that high levels of social dysfunction fuel religiosity, rather than the other way around.

Although correlation is not causation, Paul's study offers much food for thought. At a minimum, his findings suggest that contrary to popular belief, lack of religiosity does societies no particular harm. This should offer ammunition to those who maintain that religious belief is a purely private matter and that government should remain neutral, not only among religions but also between religion and lack of religion. It should also give a boost to critics of "faith-based" social services and abstinence-only disease and pregnancy prevention programs.

We shouldn't shy away from the possibility that too much religiosity may be socially dangerous. Secular, rationalist approaches to problem-solving emphasize uncertainty, evidence and perpetual reevaluation. Religious faith is inherently nonrational.

This in itself does not make religion worthless or dangerous. All humans hold nonrational beliefs, and some of these may have both individual and societal value. But historically, societies run into trouble when powerful religions become imperial and absolutist.

The claim that religion can have a dark side should not be news. Does anyone doubt that Islamic extremism is linked to the recent rise in international terrorism? And since the history of Christianity is every bit as blood-drenched as the history of Islam, why should we doubt that extremist forms of modern American Christianity have their own pernicious and measurable effects on national health and well-being?

Arguably, Paul's study invites us to conclude that the most serious threat humanity faces today is religious extremism: nonrational, absolutist belief systems that refuse to tolerate difference and dissent.

My prediction is that right-wing evangelicals will do their best to discredit Paul's substantive findings. But when they fail, they'll just shrug: So what if highly religious societies have more murders and disease than less religious societies? Remember the trials of Job? God likes to test the faithful.

To the truly nonrational, even evidence that on its face undermines your beliefs can be twisted to support them. Absolutism means never having to say you're sorry.

And that, of course, is what makes it so very dangerous.

2005-10-03T04:04:00.000-04:00

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/10/03/delay_pledges_to_keep_raising_funds/

ya know what, Fuck You Tom Delay... you dont think it was sleazy politics when Your Kind persecuted Bill Clinton for getting a blow job? as my uncle Sxcott would say, "no no No NO!! NO I DONT THINK SO SIR!!!!"...

A Well rounded "Fuck Off and Die Messily" to you and your dishonorable hill-jack cronies!

i pledge to raise my middle finger to you and yours!

Good DAY, sir!

day 1 TIFF, http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest

2005-09-10T15:49:00.000-04:00

Continuing from the music line in the last one.. as that was end of experience on Friday (3am)

I woke up this morning and got ready to head up to the manulife centre to get our online tix, and we stopped at a coffee shop for tea and crumpets LOL ROFL and I had a ]I[ shot espresso with the balance of a grande cup filled with colombia's blackest. there was a parade of !taoist taichi! people?! i dont know if taoist taichi day is a celebration of taoism ^_^ or taichi ? anyway that was cool.

Then i heard the loudest bassiest christian music.. jesus as lord of the rastafarians m0n hehe.. it was pretty cool.. but very loud. baptism by sound pressure/ excorcising the devil with heaven-high decibels. the jokes could be unending.. but i digress.

I am noticing some interesting philosophical constructions forming in my twisted mind...

people are very relaxed and chilled out about everything. dress code seems Very MrInvader Approved. they dress cleanly but tshirts and shorts and things are de jure. they seem not to have the stupid oldnavy aeropostale gotta be fashunable at the expense of poor 3rd world slave economies.. Actually, i have seen only one FuBu and one like DKNY shirt (third world exploiters) since ive been here and have seen many people. I have also seen NOOO big box stores lahk waul maurt (hill jack accent).

I have seen that Today is Taoist Tai-Chi day, and they had a parade in front of the coffee shop I was at this am for breakfast, and they had people of all ethnicities in front and a !bagpipe band! in the back. I walked a little over two blocks up to this large downtown park and there was a large like a jesus party with african-canadians and christian reggae.. oddest sight ive ever seen. My sense of canada is that canada is what the US could be if it really tried and quit being all corrupted and scoundrelous. If we stop voting according to fox news and started thinking about the health of the polity itsself, we would

I have seen Nothing but positives since I have been here. A lot of people out there know me to be very cynical and negative at times. but in light of current experiences in the last 11 hours, i am Rapidly seeing that it isnt that im negative, but out of place. I think i really am thinking canada is where i should be.

there is something i saw on the net in a joke site - jesusland )the red states( and The United States of Canada )everything not in jesusland. I think there is more credence to this than the joke person may have intended/thought.

Cheers, eh?! LOL.

oh, and they have a $1 Cdn coin. It's called the Loonie. guess whjat the two is... A Toonie!! Un Frippin Real! this country is Loonie about its Toonies!! LOLOLOLOLO FN L..

day 0.5 TIFF, http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest

2005-09-10T15:27:00.000-04:00

We left after 4 on Fri for the filmfest. an uneventful trip to detroit terminated with the discovery that 75 is 275 south of detroit, north of the airport. 94 curves up actually closer to the ambassador than 75 appeared on the maps. so we missed the "75" exit and ended up doing ok anyway , actually a more efficient route. o for fortunate whoopses - silly putty, and 94 East LOLOLOL

We crossed the bridge over rubbled water (the detoilet river LOL).. the bridge WAYYY over the water. I digress.. it was cool. and very high. it is "Ma would prolly sit shotgun and end up laying the seat back" high.

The cultural changeover from detoilet to windsor was IMMEDIATELY noticeable. the signs are clearer to read from a distance. there were a few international gutbusters(mcd's toxicsmell rb's etc) but it was very clean and noncommercialized and very pro-the-canadian-worker. American corps will NEVER nafta to canada. but ya know, thats not a terrible thing maybe..

We got gas at a 'service centre' not a gas station, full serve, and the guy sez "sorry our gas prices are retarded.." i sez "well its better than your leadership being retarded..[potential faux pas recovery] ..i mean in our country our leadership is retarded.. i know nothing of canada's leadership...[grin roadvibrated whoops]" and we had a very satisfying high intellectual conversation about why hes glad to be canadian and why i had a wave of yeah it would definitely be cool to be canadian 'specially now with a drunken dumbya at the wheel.. the rest of the world DOES think we're politically skewed. whaddaya know..

the exits on the freeways are finite Can401 exit 347 348 350 352 vs 35A and 35B of i94/us23 fame, miles and miles of actually big sky.. [more expounding to follow]

We Drove for miles and miles at 100 somethings per hour.. unfortunately, SOMETHINGS was Kilometers. (100k/h =~ 60 mph). So it was about like nortwest ohio or pennsylvania except philly. and the landscape matches ohio as well. But then out of nowhere, Canada hits like a ton of hockeypucks. Toronto! Toronto has a buttload of things that are totally different. they have streetcars and a different "feel". very mom and poppy.

Toronto appears kinda like ann arbor, but with some very unostentatious commerciality, like corporate and local human in perfect harmony. the way it should be. like little 1800s buildings and like no name pita restaurants(the pita pit or triple d's) next to hancock tower and the ExecutivE Supper Club (said very hoity-toitily/poshly :) ). and the radio stations are .. unREaL. they have great music here in the great white north. the experience with the russian sassage cartsman... There appears to be just great people of all cultures in this country.. This guy aside from great hotdogs also had great advice/directions and was very friendly and uncommercial. the last paragraphs of day 1 post DEFINITELY apply.

more to follow :)

stupid spammers

2005-09-05T11:31:00.000-04:00

Whats the world coming to.. I keep getting ads posted as comments on my blog.. wth do i do?

A clue would be greatly appreciated!

MrI

internet wasteland - dedicated to a small town i know of whose name will not be mentioned here....

2005-08-27T17:56:00.000-04:00

Out here in the fields	Out here in the field
I fought for my meals	We shoot all our meals
I get my back into my living	And vote for dubya around thanksgiving
I don't need to fight	Dont want net tonight
To prove I'm right	To book our flights
I don't need to be forgiven	We Cant play Myst or Riven

Don't cry	Dont try
Don't raise your eye	To pass any bytes
It's only teenage wasteland	This heres internet wasteland

Sally, take my hand	Enuf git er dun man
Travel south crossland	At the produce stand
Put out the fire	stoke up th' fa'hr
And don't look past my shoulder	cuz its gittin colder

The exodus is here	The exodus is here
The happy ones are near	To leave all the deer
Let's get together	To have a chance
Before we get much older	To Fill up our email folder

Teenage wasteland	Internet wasteland
It's only teenage wasteland	This heres internet wasteland
Teenage wasteland, oh yeah	Internet wasteland, oh yeah
Teenage wasteland	chicken feed in yer wastecan

New Image for my profile..

2005-08-22T22:47:00.000-04:00

Ive decided to post an image. an image you all will like and those really close will have seen. its a pic of 'W' in the middle of a recycle emblem that says Some Things Were Never Meant To Be Recycled. Enjoy!

Natalie Maines I <3 U

2005-08-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

I saw this and about had a hemorrhage :) this is a trip. Natalie, i salute you!

Apology from Natalie Maines

As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I now realize that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect.

I hope everyone understands, I'm just a young girl who grew up in Texas. As far back as I can remember, I heard people say they were ashamed of President Clinton. I saw bumper stickers calling him everything from a pothead to a murderer. I heard people on the radio and tv like Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott bad mouthing the President and ridiculing his wife and daughter at every opportunity.

I heard LOTS of people disrespecting the President. So I guess I just assumed it was acceptable behavior.

But now, thanks to the thousands of angry people who want radio stations to boycott our music because criticizing the President is unpatriotic, I realize it's wrong to have a liberal opinion if you're a country music artist. I guess I should have thought about that before deciding to play music that attracts hypocritical red necks.

I also realize now that I'm supposed to just sing and look cute so our fans won't have anything to upset them while they're cheating on their wives or getting in drunken bar fights or driving around in their pickup trucks shooting highway signs and small animals.

And most important of all, I realize that it's wrong for a celebrity to voice a political opinion, unless they're Toby Keith, Charlie Daniels, Clint Black, Barbara Mandrell, Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs, Travis Tritt, Hank Williams Jr, Amy Grant, Larry Gatlin, Crystal Gayle, Reba McEntire, Lee Greenwood, Lorrie Morgan, Anita Bryant, Mike Oldfield, Ted Nugent, Wayne Newton, Dick Clark, Jay Leno, Drew Carey, Dixie Carter, Victoria Jackson, Charleton Heston, Fred Thompson, Ben Stein, Bruce Willis, Kevin Costner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bo Derek, Rick Schroeder, George Will, Pat Buchanan, Bill O'Reilly, Joe Rogan, Delta Burke, Robert Conrad or Jesse Ventura.

God Bless America,
Natalie

Brain Powerd

2005-07-24T01:37:00.000-04:00

brain powerd. acquired it. watched it. loved it.

kanno yoko is pure aural genius. Art direction by director of his and her circumstances, brilliant! Aside from ghibli, best redheaded anime character design ever put to acetate (or whatever they put cels on ^_^` ). sorry nene youve been raped, pillaged, and sacked, romanov-style! funny/coinkidink your name is romanova, almost pre-destined to be tragically cast aside, like the other bearers of that name.. gomen-nasai.. kei unfortunately has been bumped off as well :'( . Giant robots that actively advance the story rather than just wave their arms about and say WOOK AT MEE im a GIANT ROBOT RARRRRR AHHHgundamCHOOO :/ (of course miyazaki-sama's GRs pioneered this concept of plot laden giant robots.. LOL )! More to follow..

Piece of crap Rove

2005-07-18T16:27:00.000-04:00

...needs to find his way to the bottom of a mk77-made burning hole and survive long enough to be fried in ol sparky!! i think hes about the only one i can think of thats a bigger crook than the rest of the stupid idiotic dubyaites. Mr Rove is a very good argument for the re-instatement of the chair as a method of execution. use the Chair and a Dry Sponge!!!! BGGZZZZHZBZBGGZGGZGZZZGHGZZGGGGGGZZZZZZZZTTTT!!!!!11

Rot in hell you evil bastard real life version of Emperor Palpitine. lying sack of beetle infested wildebeest sh1t!

nuff said.

holy shizbot!!!

2005-07-15T12:13:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been posting like someone lit my a$$ on fire LOLOLOL

euthanasia and Million Dollar Baby

2005-07-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

This is an example of Rank Chridiocy in action....
=======================================
From IMDB Review Forums on M.D.B..

Posting Thread - Euthanasia and Million Dollar Baby

Original Chridiot Poster withheld to protect MY conscience and honor. want to know who actually said it? join IMDB for free and read this thread there.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This movie was mediocre at best. The hollywood liberals picked this movie because Clint killed her in the end. If Clint's character would have made another decision, this movie wouldn't have won the Oscar.

Euthanasia is a selfish practice. All it does is make the person doing the killing feel good about his/her actions. No more hospital visits or hospital bills for the killer. Should we encourage those with a mental illness to commit suicide? I have a friend who is schizophrenic, and he hasn't been himself for years. If he was to ask me to shoot him or stick him with a needle and kill him, I would say no way. This would be murder and the same thing Clint's character did in the movie. How is euthanasia different from suicide? Liberals are always trying to change things to make people feel better about things like this. If your pro-abortion, your pro-choice. The last thing that liberals want to give you is a choice. They change homosexuality to gay, and now suicide to mercy killings. I'm glad the liberals lose election after election, this means that the majority of americans are not buying their socialist/communist agenda. Liberalism is dying a slow death as it should. Liberals want the government to control your lives. Senator Obama said that the democrats need to find their core values. It's not that the democrats need to find their core values, they have them. They know that if they tell people their core values, the democrats wouldn't win another election. If they told people their core values, they would scare the majority of people away. If people with cancer want you to kill them in the middle of chemo, should you do it? Scorsese was robbed of an oscar because of liberalism.

      ======================
      Re: Euthanasia and Million Dollar Baby
      by - someone 1 day ago (Thu Jul 14 2005 01:57:50 )
      Ignore this User | Report Abuse
      "I have a friend who is schizophrenic, and he hasn't been himself for years."

      Absolutely hilarious!!

      Thanks for that.

      ======================
      Re: Euthanasia and Million Dollar Baby
      by - someone else 2 hours ago (Fri Jul 15 2005 06:03:41 )
      Ignore this User | Report Abuse
      "The hollywood liberals picked this movie because Clint killed her in the end." u are so stupid....

      ======================
      Re: Euthanasia and Million Dollar Baby
      by - some person 2 hours ago (Fri Jul 15 2005 06:35:21 )
      Ignore this User | Report Abuse
      Actually they portray it as being an extremely difficult decision for Clint's character, and it's
      clear that he didn't do it to make things easier for him, but for her.
      Re: Euthanasia and Million Dollar Baby

      ======================
      by - mrinvader 1 minute ago (Fri Jul 15 2005 08:58:09 )

      This guy is so out of touch with reality that im not even going to respond.. ya know not everything can
      be as clean and trite as the Waltons..
      G'night, Johnboy, and enjoy your silly theocracy.

oh god no

2005-07-14T01:06:00.000-04:00

Please please say this isnt true.. please..

Our esteemed military leadership is now admitting to the use of napalm-alikes in Iraq

I have seen too much about the effects of napalm..

see Grave of the Fireflies for Takahata Isao's rendition of a novel about two children who lose their mother to firebombs, and ultimately their lives, to ww2.

see Kim Phuc Phan Thi for another example.

there is no punishment strong enough for these evil nazi bastards in power now. the Christian Hell would be a pleasant vacation spot for these people..

but i at least can take solace in the fact that I DID NOT put these people in power and campaigned loudly and at great risk to my social standing that this group should not be re-elected..

god i hope my dad doesnt find this article.. oops too late, he reads my blog :( sorry dad.

Please people, Please vote your CONSCIENCE not what th' cherch tells ya. How could any person who even KNOWS of the passages "thou shalt not kill" and "thou shalt not bear false witness" even think of being party to those who would commit these atrocities.

this is simply murder. premeditated cold blooded murder. may you rot in the place that residents of hell, consider to be hell. and may there be NO mercy on your black ichor spilling souls.

I cant think of anything ... wow im at a loss for words

Viewtiful Joe OP/ED

2005-07-11T08:56:00.000-04:00

OMG im like grabbed by the nose and dragged into a SaGa induced bounce! my trip is being aided by the right 'onorable Earl of Grey on ice `XB

Mood: Bouncing off the FReakin WallS!

Wish: Konoha would call me and BS for a while :)

howl's moving castle

2005-07-09T10:38:00.000-04:00

I dont know what to say about this except.. WOW! i was blown away yet again by the absolute finest eye candy ever to grace the silver screen...

Hauru no ugoku shiro(Howl's Moving Castle)

Usually Ebert is pretty good at calling a good movie.. but this time i will call it myself. He gave a lukewarm review of this one but i would give a frippth frippth frippth boiling hot * * * * * review of this one.

And even to the reviewers who shredded it as 'Un Miyazaki', Your reviews are Appreciated and accepted, but.

No.

you're high L(o)L, may i interest you in some rehab and detox?

This film is _Very_ Miyazaki, and I'd have it no other way. He has full and unrestricted license to do whatever the thptt he wants! Hehehe. and of course Howl is thpanking the UnCredibles... I couldnt see the film because of the guy's HUGE CHIN and Horrid character design. Poor Walt is prolly dancing a whirly-jig in his pine box!

But then i'm not a very constructive reviewer of Studio Ghibli/TAKAHATA Isao/MIYAZAKI Hayao's and all their talented contemporaries' work, as I have yet to see one that doesnt bury the needle and blow my freekin mind away, each time in a completely new way with just enough eau de Ghibli to ... well theirs are the only works in that genre that are even remotely cross-comparable, and arguably(by me at least and at length ^_^' ) across all motion picture genres.

un (Notable PAUSE) REAL!

'@_@`

Mr Eisner, Siddown and watch Just One of Ghibli's pre-production concept films, and behold more talent than your teams coould dream of mustering on their own. Sorry, thats just the fact from the world of invader. I will, FWIW, give you full honors and brownie points for having the good sense to hook up with Tokuma/Ghibli to distribute their inimitable skill and subtle panache to the mindless masses in this parched landscape of Mainstream American Cart'Teewns.

Oh and a very 'last but not least' heartfelt kudo to HISAISHI Jo, the revered composer/scorer of most ghiblies! The hair on the back of my neck knocks the hat off my head when his sublime soundscapes lovingly grace my ears! This one is not as forceful as say a fine vintage Mononoke or as joyous as an aromatic boquet of Mimi, but is placid and smooth as a fine summer afternoon in a hammock with a good book.

So Mr Ebert, Please.
Continue [doffed hat bow]!

and Mr Miyazaki
I am yet again and as always, Moved!

Eric's Thoughts... Ya Gotta Go There!! Oscars Look Out for the Ya Eric Smash!!

2005-06-21T20:22:00.000-04:00

Eric's Thoughts

congress to cut funding for pbs/npr

2005-06-14T22:27:00.000-04:00

Public Service Announcement from MoveOn..

You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really. Check the footnotes if you don't believe me.)

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

A House panel has voted to eliminate all funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would slash 25% of the federal funding this year—$100 million—and end funding altogether within two years. The loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and "Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate sponsorships.

If we can reach 250,000 signatures by the end of the week, we'll put Congress on notice.

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Thanks!

P.S. Read the Washington Post report on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=745

What I said...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. thats all I can say.

- NO! -

In these divided times, If it irritates the ridiculous religious right, it is good for America in general.

Come on now, be serious. They have Very Good Shows about Jesus on PBS that even a secularist like myself enjoy quite well. The righties wouldnt want to lose that now would they?

If you dont save Public Broadcasting, I Will become Muslim just to p--- you off!

NPR and PBS are the last bastion of intellectual programming on the face of the American Media. Discovery Networks doesnt really count because they dont show actual real world things like The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, and Car Talk with Click and Clack, the Tappet Bros, and of course, always and forever, NOVA! Im sorry if half of the red staters cant read at higher than a 10th grade level and have less than a 100 IQ, you shouldnt make the college educated people suffer just because you dont understand what you see. I would not petition to have Fox N00ze de-licensed.. and remember, the vast majority of money in this country... lies in THE BLUE STATES! We in michigan pay incredible taxes as do they in New York, Mass uh CHEW sits, etc.... yeah thats right, bush was born in a blue state, descended of blue staters, and educated.. in a BLUE STATE!! His Father was born in Milton, Mass!

I Digress

Hey Waitasec - I have a great idea.. Lets get the h-ll out of IRAQ, give 1/4 of the annual budget to rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan(20billion/year), spend a measly billion on a serious effort to find osama bin laden, and put the rest of the 80billion (59 billion) yewarly expenditures into things like libraries and schools, and maybe a few billion to NPR and a few billion to PBS, and then some of that even to Fox News, just to be Fair and Balanced hehe..

At any rate..

Congress must save NPR, PBS and local public stations. We trust them for in-depth news and educational children's programming. It's money well spent.

annotated aerial shot of gravel pit

2005-06-14T03:58:00.000-04:00

path to both the north beach and the blown out trestle

2005-06-14T03:56:00.000-04:00

This is the path to both the north beach and the blown out trestle to get to the rope swing. the gravel is very coarse, get sand shoes!

very steep dropoff into very clear water.

2005-06-14T03:54:00.000-04:00

The last visible bottom towards top of pic is approx 25feet deep. very steep dropoff into very clear water.

2005-06-14T03:51:00.000-04:00

This is the blown out rail trestle and resulting canal from northwest corner of northwest pit looking southeast

looking south across canal

2005-06-14T03:47:00.000-04:00

blown-trestle_right-side-20ft_deep-very-clear-water
Originally uploaded by mrinvader.

This is the canal used to get to the rope and south beach. that water is around 20ft deep at right sideand 6ft deep at left below path

deceit in the rush to invade Iraq

2005-06-09T23:19:00.000-04:00

Dear President Dubya,

My emphatic apologies for the follerin' big ol' words, If you need help readin' 'em, you can ask the Man in the Yellow Hat (Karl Rove) to read it to you.

No, NOT President Bush, Mr Bush! And you're a fair sight lucky to have THAT title (MR) at all, being the AWOL Deserter Pansy that you are!

Why, there was once a time in our great nation's history when DESERTERS were SHOT! oh how lucky you weren't born in the 19th century or we wouldnt be having this discussion.

Clinton and Cheney at least had the decency not to waste the military's time on your paperwork and enlistment registration and to get deferrals rather than to run away with your tail between their legs like you.

Anyways, I Digress.

You People WHINED and CRIED about Clinton lying about a blow job and now YOU'RE lying about BLOWING at your JOB. Clinton's BJ only hurt him and his family, YOU are damaging the ENTIRE WESTERN WORLD and making the US the butt of jokes the world over. Now, Fess Up and your punishment in the HAGUE might be more lenient!

President Bush must directly address the evidence in the Downing St. Memo of intelligence manipulation and public deceit in the rush to invade Iraq. We support Rep. Conyers’ letter of inquiry and demand answers to all its questions.

I love Canadians. No, this is serious. I really do!

2005-05-13T01:58:00.000-04:00

It's like the original goals and aspirations that America once had have migrated north. If we get another trailer republican in office in '08, I might move there.

This girl Butterfly Karma, not only is she fantastically beautiful IMHO, but her thoughts are my thoughts! I could spend hours just eating her blog with a spoon!

BK, I salute you [bows deeply]