Saturday, January 31, 2004

http://www.artlebedev.ru/portfolio/nidusa/
Embeddable MP3 Player for personal blogs and web pages Tuesday, December 16, 2003 About The Laszlo SoundBlox SoundBlox is an MP3 audio playing Internet application that can be embedded into a personal blog template or Web page, and displayed in any modern Web browser. Laszlo Systems provides SoundBlox free for non-commercial use, to spread awareness of Laszlo's XML-native platform for rich Internet applications. The code behind SoundBlox is freely available under the same terms as the Apache Open Source license Please put SoundBlox to good use. Respect the letter and spirit of content copyrights. Support the efforts of the Creative Commons. http://soundblox.blogspot.com/ http://blogs.it/0100198/
Not worth a tinker's damn
8
"BBC NEWS | Politics | BBC names Alistair Campbell as new director general" All change at the BBC!

Friday, January 30, 2004

BBC NEWS | Americas | Castro 'prepared for US invasion' five hour speech. calls the US 'idiots'. will go down shooting. awesome!
http://www.jordaan.info/boycot/
Click here to find out why. Armalite Rifle, And the Holy Trinity, Used against you, Like Irish Jokes on the BBC.
local6.com - News - N.Y. Preschooler Tests Positive For Cocaine
Another from Waco Texas:
"The Museum's mission is to educate and entertain the general public through the collection, preservation, interpretation, and exhibition of objects relevant to the history of the soft drink industry, and through that example, the free enterprise economic system." Dr Pepper Museum - Waco, Texas - Home of Dr Pepper HAHAHAHAHA!! Free enterprise economic system.
Pingvin: 3627.9
Pingvin
Ahem; yes indeed Ken! The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) has launched a new campaign against DJs in an attempt to control copyright infringement. They have already confiscated $100,000s worth of mix CDs from independent record stores across the US. DJ mix CDs, sold in almost every independent record store are on the whole unlicensed and technically illegal to distribute. However, DJs and producers alike often rely upon these illegal mixes in order to gain credibility, and to promote themselves to the general public. The practice is in fact approved of by most producers who see it as fundamental to the survival of the dance scene - even if it is their tracks that are being copied and played without permission. This latest attack by the RIAA is therefore hypocritical - they claim that their pursuit of copyright infringement is primarily in the interest of the artist, yet most dance producers actually approve of and rely upon this illegal distribution. The dance scene relies upon these "illegal" ways to survive, and it seems that the only people who actually care about this particular copyright infringement are not the artists themselves but the record companies ? who are only involved in the dance scene for profit. [...] hmmmm is self promotion "promotion" like the stipulation further below in the blog from this site? It has to be said, these guys, individuals, if they are selling these mix CDs sell only in the low hundreds, and just to eat burgers, it's simply not rational to go after them. If its some organized dude pumping out 5,000 cds a month and making alot of money off of other peoples mixes and records, thats a BAD THING.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK OFF FUCK FFUCKKKKK OFFFFFFFFFFFF SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111
I think that what we have is evidence that there are differences between what we knew going in and what we found on the ground Condoleezza Rice http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3443627.stm I tell you that this war was based on bluff and based on... wrong calculations based on lies and deceptions by the Americans and the British. Tariq Aziz http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2902347.stm I tell you, as I have said on many occasions before, that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction whatsoever. We challenge anyone who claims that we have, to bring forward any evidence and present it to public opinion. Saddam Hussein http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/may2003/wmd-m17.shtml A long list of the lies from the mouths of a murdering bunch of international criminals: http://billmon.org.v.sabren.com/archives/000172.html ENOUGH ALREADY of the lie listing, lest it become a lollypop. Back to "what is to be done". Reading the Guardian this morning, its clear that the patient is prepped for injection with the best idea yet; withdrawl to enforce decency. This means a witholding of consent, and the means to make the bad stuff happen until mechanisms are created that prevent warmaking and interference in other countries affairs on a permanent basis. Anything less is business as usual, which means more spectacular outrages and a fickle public forgetting why things happen and simply taking the blue pill. And you KNOW what that means.
Peter Santi's Webpage

Thursday, January 29, 2004

A widget to control this one which would be perfected if you could use it without regexps would be cool.
Konfabulator: Hmmmmm! And did you know that there is going to be a version of Konfabulator for windoze? I use it for its clock, the weather, a bandwidth monitor and beautiful battery indicator...I hope the widgets are cross platform!
http://www.iglhrc.org/
Kid 1: "What's this?" Kid 2: "Some cereal. Mom says it's supposed to be good for you." Kid 1: "Try it." Kid 2: "I'm not gonna try it! You try it!" Kid 1: "I'm not gonna try it ... Let's give it to Mikey! Yeah!!" Kid 2: "He won't eat it. He hates everything!" Mikey: [Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!] Kid 2: "Hey Mikey! He likes it!!" Hmmmmmmmmmmm! Do you get the meaning of this?
M2 have you heard the voice in the wilderness yet?
Vive le difference....quelle difference????!!! http://noisydisco.free.fr/kaba-kick.jpg
Mr. James Brown is a victim of "The Man". His mugshot, in facf all mugshots, should never be released to the public, unliess the person is on the run and is a danger to the public. It is a total violation of his privacy to have this police photograph spread all over the world in newspapers and the internet. Doing it doesnt prevent crime, is in no way useful and only hurts Mr. James Brown. I used to listen to the FBI recordings of convicted criminals at The smoking Gun. I stopped reading that website because of this sort of inexcusable violation for titilation. George Clinton recently had the same treatment. Its funny to see these great men with their hair all wild and their eyes staring like deer caught in a headlamp, but think about this: WHAT IF IT WAS YOU WHO HAD HER MUGSHOT PUT ON THE INTERNET for all to download and laugh at? And dont spin me the line of "Celebrities give up their rights to privacy when they become famous" because that is total hogwash. No one "gives up their rights" involuntarily and at the behest of Police men and Newspaper Editors....oh shit, thats wrong...ANYWAY, 911 is a joke, Fuck the Police and down with mugshot releasing!

No!

##########################################################################
# RSG-SMB-TAB-4.4                                                        #
##########################################################################

How to Win "Super Mario Bros"                Nintendo Entertainment System

WORLD 4 - LEVEL 4

                               +----------------------------------+       
  Key:     < = Left            |                                  |       
           > = Right           |    ^                             |       
           ^ = Up              |  <   >                   O   O   |       
           v = Down            |    v    select  start     B   A  |       
           B = B button        |                                  |       
           A = A button        +----------------------------------+       


< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-------------------------OOOOOOOOO
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ------------------------------------------------------------------------



< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO------------------------------------------------
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ------------------------------------------------------------------------



< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ------------------------------------------------------------------------



< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ------------------------------------OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO



< --------------------------OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-------------------
> O-----------------------------------------------------------------------
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A OOO---------------------------------------------------------------------



< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ------------------OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO---------



< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B ------------------------------------OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A ------------------------------------------------------------------------



< ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-----------------------------------
^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
v ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO---------------------------
A ------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://artport.whitney.org/gatepages/artists/galloway/
http://www.booble.com/legal.html
I'm rather tired of all the "Bushisms" and "Rumps-Felt" isms books and websites out there. Now that the dirty bastards have all admitted that the WMD porposition was a total lie and sham, we should be collecting the words of Tariq Aziz and the words of the other members of the legitimate Iraqui government in exile to see what they were saying and when. Not that it will change anything , but "lest we forget". Here is an example. "Rather" refers to warmonger Dan Rather of CBS: Rather: Mr. Aziz, the U.S. government and the much of the world believe that Iraq has weapons of massive destruction, chemical, biological, if not indeed including nuclear and that you have been acquiring the increasingly the ways to deliver those weapons. Now why shouldn't the United States invade Iraq and put an end to this threat? Aziz: Because those allegations are false, the U.S. government has not provided any solid information evidence about that. We invited the American congress to come on a fact finding mission, search the country, inspect all the sights that the American government says that they are being used for reproduction of weapons of mass destruction. They declined. If there is a genuine concern about this matter and the American government and the American congress and opinion, this matter could be resolved very quickly and we are ready to provide the information and facilities to reach the truth. Why did not they accept our invitation if they are sure that there are such places sights that contain weapons of mass destruction? This tells you, tells any intelligent person that their accusations are untrue. [...] From the mouth of Tariq Aziz. How many can YOU find with Google??!
"Let me begin by saying, we were almost all wrong, and I certainly include myself here," Kay told a Senate armed services committee hearing in his first appearance on Capitol Hill since stepping down last week. He said European countries, including those that did not support the war like France and Germany, had also believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. "It turns out that we were all wrong probably ... and that is most disturbing. [...] Toronto Star
what's to be done? Here is how you do it: In Chapter 23 of theBook of Lies by Aleister Crowley, the chapter consists entirely of: SKIDOO What man is at ease in his Inn? Get out. Wide is the world and cold. Get out. Thou hast become an in-itiate. Get out. But thou canst not get out by the way thou camest in. The Way out is THE WAY. Get out. For OUT is Love and Wisdom and Power. Get OUT. If thou hast T already, first get UT. Then get O. And so at last get OUT.
produce anything worthwhile. Yahoo News Is reporting a new form of matter that will produce (eventually, maybe) room temperature superconductors. Think about it, 10% of alll electricity goes to waste during tranmission as heat. Fix that, and we save huge amounts of energy. Couple this with the new light bulbs that are 60% more efficient than incandescent bulbs, and we are on the way to becoming electricity efficent on a previously unimaginable scale. Electric cars, Hydrogen cars and superconductors will finally be the nail in the coffin of Big Oil. You are absolutely correct. Pressure is useless. Only economic warfare will replace what we hate with what we need.
Dear Friend, You are no friend of peace, my friend. On behalf of Our World Our Say, I am asking you to join in an effective and targeted initiative to help call the Government to account over the way they led Britain into war with Iraq. This is completely wrong; it will not be effective, and calling the govt. to account will not undo this wrong, and will not stop the next wrong from taking place. Far from answering the key question, Lord Hutton has stuck to the brief he was set '...to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Kelly'. This nonsense beggars belief; if the key question had been answered, what would be the result? A war was waged, and the principle country behind it now openly admits that the premise for starting it was just a convenient excuse. If the UK govt. admits that it was completely wrong, nothing will change. Writing petitions and marching are pacifiers for people with a child like belief in democracy - imbeciles who repeat its catchphrases like 5 year olds reciting their times tables. OWOS is aiming to get at least 50,000 to sign the ONLY petition in the UK calling for a full judicial inquiry into whether Parliament and the British people were misled over the threat from Iraq. Welll there is some hope at least; these people are the only ones stupid enough to think that a petition is going to effect change. Even the most retarded of goons can understand the math: 2,000,000 march on London, BEFORE WAR STARTS, and it makes no difference. 50,000 People sign a single petition - will this make MORE or LESS of a difference? This is SIMPLE MATHS, SIMPLE LOGIC. Go back to the drawing board you stupid FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, "Peltier Cooling": http://www.digit-life.com/articles/peltiercoolers/
It emits a green glow from the front... http://www.overclockers.com/tips1133/
"It turns out we were all wrong," he said, "and that is most disturbing." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3439673.stm

1.3 billion Chinese citizens to get new ID cards

By INQUIRER staff: Wednesday 28 January 2004, 08:53 CHINA IS TO arm its lucky lucky 1.3 billion citizens with ID cards over the next five years, but some will get their new chipped up identities as soon as March. That's what the People's Daily says today. The technology used in the card will include a chip and as far as can be judged, the card and the semiconductor are both Chinese implementations. The card, said the scary Daily, will "greatly increase security because police can use a card processing machine to check" it. Some lucky citizens will get the 85.6mm by 54mm as early as March, with the entire scheme complete by 2008. The Daily claims that the country will allow "free movements of population" but such a "floating population" will make it difficult to "maintain public security". http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13855

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Vermont is the only state where an individual can have a non-photo driver's license, for any reason, no questions asked. (Other states have various restrictions.) Indeed, if you want the photo, it'll cost you $5 extra. http://www.aot.state.vt.us/dmv/LICENSES/LICFEES.htm The very independent people of Vermont have decided that not everyone needs or should be required to have a photo ID card. Why their ex-Governor is not on board remains a mystery to me. [...] From Politech...
"Welcome to the Desert of the Real" http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1260&storyid=812402

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

MyDoom clogs up net STUDY: CO-WORKER MORONS FOUND MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO MYDOOM VIRUS
CNN.com - Papal blessing for break-dancers - Jan. 26, 2004
HAIL BLIFNAB
True Majority
OSCAR.com - 76th Annual Academy Awards - Nominees: Nominee List
Are people who are on SoulSeek interested in making a Blogdial room? How many of us are there?
And in quicktime VR: http://www.fat.co.uk/replicas/simpsons.html
The Simpsons House
About Vodafone - Future Vision Receiver
A friend was recently professing the wonders of Argentinian group the Reynols, a noisy, make-up-the're-own-rules-as-they-go-along musical excursion led by drummer/singer Miguel Tomasin (who, incidentally, suffers from Down's Syndrome). They made an album that was just a collection of different brands of blank tape hiss.



+++++++++++++++++

BitTorrent
What is the convention for leaving the BT window open after downloading. I uploaded a total of 93.1 MB over the course of 24 hours. Doesn't seem like much...
You Say Deserter, I Say More Dessert... by Michael Moore January 27, 2004 Friends, I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a "deserter." What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants. In fact, he ?shot a man in Reno just to watch him die." Actually, what I meant to say up in New Hampshire last week was that "We're going to have Bush for dessert come November!" I'm always mixing up "dessert" and "desert" -- I'm sure many of you have that problem. Well, well, well. As George W. would say, "It's time to smoke ?em out of their hole!" Thanks to my "humorous" introduction of Wesley Clark 10 days ago in New Hampshire -- and the lughead way the no-sense-of-humor media has covered it -- there were 15 million hits this weekend on my website. Everyone who visited the site got to read the truth about Bush not showing up for National Guard duty. The weird thing about all this is that during my routine I never went into any details about Bush skipping out while in the Guard (it's not like it's the biggest issue on my mind or facing America these days!) I was just attempting my best impersonation of that announcer guy for the World Wrestling Federation, asking the cheering crowd if they would like to see a smackdown ("debate") which I called "The Generaaal Versus The Deserterrrr!!" (You can watch it here -- hardly anyone in the media has shown this clip because viewers would suddenly see the context of my comments.) When the press heard me use that word "deserter," though, the bells and whistles went off, for this was one of those stories they knew they had ignored -- and now it was rearing its ugly, truthful head on a very public stage. Without a single other word from me other than the d-word, they immediately got so defensive that it looked to many viewers like they?the press?maybe had something to hide. After all, when I called Bush a deserter, how did they know I wasn't referring to how he has deserted the 43 million Americans who have no health coverage? Why didn't they assume I was talking about how Bush is a deserter because he has deserted the working people of this country (who have lost 3 million jobs since he's taken office)? Why wasn't it obvious to them that I was pointing out how Bush had deserted our constitution and Bill of Rights as he tries to limit freedom of speech and privacy rights for law-abiding citizens? Instead, they have created the brouhaha over Bush's military record, often without telling their audience what the exact charges are. It seems all they want to do is to get Clark or me -- or you -- to shut up. "We have never investigated this and so we want you to apologize for bringing it up!" Ha ha ha. Well, I'm glad they have gone nuts over it. Because here we have a Commander in Chief --who just took off while in uniform to go work for some Republican friend of his dad's -- now sending our kids over to Iraq to die while billions are promised to Halliburton and the oil companies. Twenty percent of them are National Guard and Reserves (and that number is expected to double during the year). They have been kept in Iraq much longer than promised, and they have not been given the proper protection. They are sitting ducks. What if any of them chose to do what Bush did back in the early 70s -- just not show up? I've seen Republican defenders of Bush this week say, ?Yeah, but he made up the time later.? So, can today's National Guardsmen do the same thing -- just say, when called up to go to Iraq, "Um, I'm not going to show up, I'll make up the time later!"? Can you imagine what would happen? Of course, none of them are the son of a Congressman, like young Lt. Bush was back in 1972. Today, MoveOn.org has put together it's response to this issue, and I would love to reprint it here. It lays out all the facts about Bush and the remaining unanswered questions about where he went for many, many months: Here are what appear to be the known facts, laid out recently in considerable detail and documentation by retired pilot and Air National Guard First Lt. Robert A. Rogers, and in a 2003 book, ?The Lies of George W. Bush,? by David Corn. 1. George W. Bush graduated from Yale in 1968 when the war in Vietnam was at its most deadly and the military draft was in effect. Like many of his social class and age, he sought to enter the National Guard, which made Vietnam service unlikely, and fulfill his military obligation. Competition for slots was intense; there was a long waiting list. Bush took the Air Force officer and pilot qualification tests on Jan. 17, 1968, and scored the lowest allowed passing grade on the pilot aptitude portion. 2. He, nevertheless, was sworn in on May 27, 1968, for a six-year commitment. After a few weeks of basic training, Bush received an appointment as a second lieutenant ? a rank usually reserved for those completing four years of ROTC or 18 months active duty service. Bush then went to flight school and trained on the F-102 interceptor fighter jet. Fighter pilots were in great demand in Vietnam at the time, but Bush wound up serving as a ?weekend warrior? in Houston, where his father?s congressional district was centered. A Houston Chronicle story published in 1994, quoted in Corn?s book, has Bush saying: ?I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes.? 3. Sometime after May 1971, young Lt. Bush stopped participating regularly in Guard activities. According to Texas Air National Guard records, he had fewer than the required flight duty days and was short of the minimum service owed the Guard. Records indicate that Bush never flew after May 1972, despite his expensive training and even though he still owed the National Guard two more years. 4. On May 24, 1972, Bush asked to be transferred to an inactive reserve unit in Alabama, where he also would be working on a Republican senate candidate?s campaign. The request was denied. For months, Bush apparently put in no time at all in Guard service. In August 1972, Bush was grounded -- suspended from flying duties -- for failing to submit to an annual physical exam. (Why wouldn't he take this exam from a doctor?) 5. During his 2000 presidential campaign, Bush?s staff said he recalled doing duty in Alabama and then returning to Houston for still more duty. But the commander of the Montgomery, AL, unit where Bush said he served told the Boston Globe that he had no recollection of Bush ? son of a congressman ? ever reporting, nor are there records, as there should be, supporting Bush?s claim. Asked at a press conference in Alabama on June 23, 2000 what duties he had performed as a Guardsman in that state, Bush said he could not recall, ?but I was there.? 6. In May, June and July, 1973, Bush suddenly started participating in Guard activities back in Houston again ? pulling 36 days at Ellington Air Base in that short period. On Oct. 1, 1973, eight months short of his six-year service obligation and scheduled discharge, Bush apparently was discharged with honors from the Texas Air National Guard (eight months short of his six-year commitment). He then went to Harvard Business School. Documents supporting these reports, released under Freedom of Information Act requests, appear along with Rogers? article on the web at http://democrats.com/display.cfm?id=154. In the absence of full disclosure by the President or his supporters, only the President and perhaps a few family or other close associates know the whole truth. And they?re not talking. Bush was apparently absent without official leave from his assigned military service for as little as seven months (New York Times) or as much as 17 months (Boston Globe) during a time when 500,000 American troops were fighting the Vietnam War. The Army defines a ?deserter? -- also known as a DFR, for ?dropped from rolls? ? as one who is AWOL 31 days or more: www-ari.army.mil/pdf/s51.pdf. Well, there you have it. Someone got some special treatment. And now that special someone believes he has the right to conduct a war -- using other not-so-special people's lives. My friends, I always call it like I see it. I don't pussyfoot around. Sometimes the truth is hard to take. The media conglomerates are too afraid to take this on. I understand. But I'm not. That's my job. And I'll continue to do it. And when I'm wrong, like the thing about Bush pooping his pants, I'll say so. Yours, Michael Moore mmflint@aol.com www.michaelmoore.com -------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe, please click here.
"I know of no other Democratic candidate who has this view on national ID," said Chris Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "I hope that he'd reconsider his policy on national ID because it has significant affects on individuals' right to privacy and does not make the country more secure. If you think about it, the implication is that children would have to be issued cards as well. Are we talking about ID cards from birth?" [...] http://news.com.com/2010-1028-5146863.html

Some specific issues with Copyright:

FBI Warning on Video Tapes. The FBI Warning about copying a video tape is a lie. Owners of Copyrighted material are allowed to copy the VHS Tape for their personal use. Copying is not a crime. Ripping CD's to MP3 files. This is LEGAL. Copying legally purchased Copyrighted material is a protected act under the Constitution. Making copies of a Copyrighted article for a class discussion and distributing them to the class. Legal and explicit under Section 107 quoted above. Sharing an MP3 music file, or a cassette tape of music without charge. This is LEGAL unless your doing this as part of a business plan or promotion. You can have a website full of MP3's as long as it is not a business site, you are not selling ad space etc. If you can afford it, have fun. Copying software in a business. Illegal - Don't do it. Copying software you own for personal use. Legal if no money is passing hands. Sell copies of software you own and no longer use. Legal as a second sale. http://www.nyfairuse.org/
http://www.planetz.com/Pulsar/image/Big/Andromeda.jpg
The Soviet exploration of Venus, from 1961 to 1984, is the largest effort ever undertaken to study another planet. The fundamentals of interplanetary spacecraft design and remote sensing were first realized in these attempts. Successful missions included 3 atmospheric probes, 10 landings, 4 orbiters, 11 flybys or impacts, and 2 balloon probes of the clouds. [...] http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm
January 22, 2004 -- LAST February, Morgan Spurlock decided to become a gastronomical guinea pig. His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his health. Scores of cheeseburgers, hundreds of fries and dozens of chocolate shakes later, the formerly strapping 6-foot-2 New Yorker - who started out at a healthy 185 pounds - had packed on 25 pounds. But his supersized shape was the least of his problems. Within a few days of beginning his drive-through diet, Spurlock, 33, was vomiting out the window of his car, and doctors who examined him were shocked at how rapidly Spurlock's entire body deteriorated. "It was really crazy - my body basically fell apart over the course of 30 days," Spurlock told The Post. His liver became toxic, his cholesterol shot up from a low 165 to 230, his libido flagged and he suffered headaches and depression. [...] http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/16393.htm "You deserve a break today...."
Chicago Tribune | The Great DIVIDE this article irritates me, but i sure love having the debate.
The New Yorker: The Critics: A Critic At Large

Monday, January 26, 2004

Howard Dean IS Insane!!!

GOV. HOWARD DEAN STATE OF VERMONT Prepared remarks to state DMV administrators March 27, 2002 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [...] It is time to take a serious look at hardware and smart-card based solutions. I believe that the states -- and therefore you -- will lead the way in the discovery and implementation of greater digital security. Some of you have already begun this process. States can move faster than the federal government to ensure that employees accessing the state?s network are indeed who they say they are and that they are doing legitimate business. But it would be shortsighted to imagine that your work is limited to solving these problems only for state employees. State Chief Information Officers, and each of you here today, have tremendous power to forge a solution that will set the standards for securing devices for all of us, not just those accessing state resources. We must develop flexible solutions that will likely require the use of Smart Cards and some form of hardened security in a reader or desktop device. For example, one state?s Smart Card driver?s license must be identifiable by another state?s card reader. It must also be easily commercialized by the private sector and included in all PCs over time -- making the Internet safer and more secure. [...] In an age where identity and trust are paramount, the fact remains that the only viable form of universal identity in the U.S. today is the state-issued driver?s license. Think about it: When you entered the airport or the train station to travel to this conference, how many times did you use your driver?s license to prove your identity? Remember -- this is the same driver?s license that teenagers alter in order to get into a club or buy cigarettes. Terrorists do it all the time. They did it on September Eleventh. [...] NO THEY DIDNT YOU FUCKING LIAR! Many in private and public life have called for a national identification card. In spite of Larry Ellison?s offer to provide the necessary software for free --- this has raised a public outcry concerning privacy and sharing too much private information with the government. [...] You will all be sharing your fingerprints with governments all over the world shortly, thanks to this sor of utter nonsense. I cant wait till the sleeping sheep of america wake up and find that FINGERPRINTING is MANDATORY. We can?t let this become our briar patch. I?m from Vermont and believe me, government is kept at a respectful but very conscious distance. Reality demands that we understand ---First --- that the rise of empowered individuals whose single mission is to destroy Americans means that we have to fight them at an INDIVIDUAL level [...] Thats pure Double Talk. and second --- that we have already ceded our private information to faceless credit card companies and direct marketers who then sell it for a profit. Now --- I believe that our nation has the technological capacity to protect both our privacy and our way of life. [...] Issuing such a card would have little effect on the privacy of Americans. I understand that you will be discussing privacy issues at a later workshop in this important conference --- but let?s take a moment to look at privacy in America today. In many ways, privacy is the new urban myth. Your credit card company knows every flight you?ve taken; they know your rental car, your hotel, the movies you watched, and where you had breakfast. Credit card companies have a stake in knowing everything about you because it?s a marketer?s dream. And its Howard Deans Facist wet dream. Credit card companies are not Governments. You do not have to use one if you do not want to. You can use one under a false name if you like. You do not have to produce one on the demand of a police man. What utter rubbish. The "great Urban Myth" is that Howard dean and his "dystopia come hither" jackass followers dont understand the first thing about privacy, and the rights of the individual, the difference between a company and the US government, the difference between compulsion and free choice. What a fucking moron! The information for sale regarding your private life is detailed -- and lucrative. When it comes to the Internet, every web page you have ever visited, every e-mail you have ever sent, every word you have ever typed, is stored somewhere and can be accessed by someone with the right skills. And as you well know, it?s not just the Good Guys who possess these skills. [...] That is another lie. What?s the fastest growing crime in the U.S.? Identity theft --- stealing individuals? identities --- not just their credit card numbers but their very existence. So, is the answer to create an Orwellian Ministry of Information? No. It?s about creating safe passage through a free but threatened life. [...] Double talk We will not, and should not, tolerate a call to erode privacy even further --- far from it. Americans can only be assured that their personal identity and information are safe and protected when they are able to gain more control over this information and its use. [...] This cannot be done by the state compelling you to be fingerprinted, in "partnershit" (YES PARTNERSHIT) with Shlumberger Sema. Buy a clue Dean! Again, this points to Smart Card adoption and development of card readers that limit information access but also confirm it --- when appropriate. The same Smart Card that confirms that a person is a registered voter can also be used to validate age in a liquor store. [...] NO it does not lead there. And who is to say when it is appropriate and not appropriate? This is not the governments place, and never should be. Saying that you have to produvce a card to buy beer means legislation, means a government approved card, means government issued cards, either directly or by partnershit proxy. Just try and sell this Dean, and see what happens. The beauty of the Smart Card is that the liquor store doesn?t know anything but age, and the hotel doesn?t know about non-hotel purchases, and the state knows nothing about any of it. But what about those same guys who can "get into your email"? If you had a single idea of what you were talking about, you would know that "smart cardds" have been hacked for years; this is total bullshit; you cannot tell everyone that they cant be sure that their email is not being read, but say that magically, your smart card will not be read by the same hackers. On the Internet, this card will confirm all the information required to gain access to a state network -- while also barring anyone who isn?t legal age from entering an adult chat room, making the internet safer for our children, or prevent adults from entering a children?s chat room and preying on our kids. [...] I will not even dignify this ignorant piece of flame bait, save to say you are a totally unfit to be the president of the united states of america. A Smart Card reader at the airport, adapted to a universal standard perhaps designed by those in this very room, could match the ticket and the baggage with the card presenter. [...] Actually, that is actually the chain around your ankle that will never be removable for your entire life. And by the way, when you say "universal" do you mean international??? you may not know it, but that is EXACTLY what you do mean. The biometric passport that your country is pushing on the entire world is that standard. CANT YOU READ????? The European Union is ahead of us because they adopted Smart Card technology long ago. The EU has ambitious plans to deploy Smart Cards and Smart Card readers throughout the continent -- and to securely deliver electronic government services, electronic banking, and electronic commerce. Hong Kong is using Smart Card technology with biometrics at security check points. [...] So, someone does the wrong thing, you must do it too? And the only smart cards being used widely are consentual, from banks, and in TV boxes; the latter being spectacularly hacked on a regular basis a few years ago. "they are already half-way up your ass, so why not push it all the way in?" My view is that the technology is here but that Americans are reluctant to adopt it. It?s time to overcome our fears [...] Oh dear me. The only fear you need to overcome is the irrational fear of terrorism that is gripping your country like the irrational fear of communism that griped you in the 1950s. Walks like a duck quacks like a duck its a duck. Talks insane, screams insanely, MUST BE INSANE. Not that its a surprise in any way, but this candidate is NOT to be voted for. If you do that sort of thing!
"Spurlock, a tall New Yorker of usually cast-iron constitution, made himself the guinea pig in this dogged investigation into the effects of fast food on the body. He ate only at McDonald's for a month - three meals, every day - and took a camera crew along to record it. If a server offered to super-size his order, he was obliged to accept - and to ingest everything, gherkins and all." Entertainment News - Film records effects of eating only McDonald's for a month

Sunday, January 25, 2004

Powell casts doubt on Iraq WMDs

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has conceded that Iraq may not have possessed any stocks of weapons of mass destruction before the war last year. [...] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3426703.stm A criminal!
> I resent being taxed so much > that it is difficult for me to > afford to have a family and > children because my earnings > are stripped to pay for the > illegitimate children of > irresponsible people. But they aren't. The taxes you pay are not going to the irresponsible or the illegitimate. They go to a complex array of laundering schemes, simulated searches for weapons of mass destruction, undisclosed locations for Cheney to kick it in style. The myth of you reaching in your purse and paying for the welfare/ghetto/thug/underage momma population who will not pull their own weight is a sad story that you bought with your own poverty of knowledge. I ain't saying you ignant, but you didn't live where I done did. [...] http://margaretcho.com/blog/frommichael.htm
It is the rising current of feeling that weblogs aren't a party (or aren't journalism, or aren't a floor wax, or aren't a dessert topping), that they're something important and serious, that is seriously harshing my buzz. "Let's all take this more seriously", is the message I get from far too many these days, "because then, well, what I do must be Serious Stuff, right? We're all adults here, aren't we?" Stop it, you bastards. Your $500 blog conferences, your NeckFlex For President consultancies, your sad tawdry whoredances with the old media moronocracy devil, your repetitive linkery to the same tired wanna-be self-declared pundits you met at the last convention, your careful management of a media face that is, in the end, marketable, it makes me want to puke. It kills the spirit of this thing that I was so in love with, and turns it, as avarice and self-regard always does, to shit. [...] http://www.emptybottle.org/glass/2004/01/never_mind_the_bollocks_heres_the_wonderchicken.php

Saturday, January 24, 2004

YOU SEE!!!!!!!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040118-114335-2930r.htm Study used census information for terror profile By Audrey Hudson THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published January 19, 2004 U.S. census information provided by millions of Americans was used in a government study to profile airline passengers as terrorist risks. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration also obtained for its study the private information of hundreds of thousands of passengers flying Northwest Airlines, an action NASA denied to The Washington Times in September. [...]
I'm still at work, I am not looking at that link now. There are only 33 pages out of billions that have that sequence in them. Now there are 34.

Friday, January 23, 2004

I'm still at work, I am not looking at that link now.
???!!! http://baroness.com/LatexRubber/SKIRTS/ALine.html
Cool things: Brie and apples on walnut bread Swan pose Seventh Heaven on a sunny day The manicure salon around the corner Long socks and A-line skirts Caribou Rain, Roy Finch I can't think of any uncool things right now. It's Friday!
10,000 Songs on Your Website. iTunes Catalog creates beautiful online catalogs of your music collection, displays the cover artwork for each album, and can even look up song lyrics. In addition, it can copy all your album artwork into iTunes, so you don't have to spend hours doing it yourself! [...] http://homepage.mac.com/azc/iTunesCatalog/
More on RIPA. By using the word "snoop" the debate is recast using words that aer not as inflamatory as they need to be. The word snoop should be replaced, in every instance when we talk about RIPA with the word "Violate". So a "snooper" is more correctly named as a VIOLATOR and snooping becomes what it really is, VIOLATING, and when they have done it it is VIOLATION.
Koopa
You are Koopa. Unlike Wario, you ARE bad. You don't
just put on. (plz rate)

What Nintendo Charater are You? (pics)
brought to you by Quizilla
I had a meeting today, and went to it in a Black Cab. I told the driver about the 600 bodies that are now able to "snoop" on him. He went ballistic. He said, "I listen to Radio 4 every day, and I have not heard anything about this; how could they do something like this? Are you sure?" He then explained that people like him are going to be targeted more than others, simply because of his job. He then said, "What are we going to do about it?" And I told him, "Make sure you tell at least two other people about this, and make sure they promise to tell two other people. In this way, the whole country will know about it in a week, and then something will happen". As soon as I got out of the cab, he called his wife and went into an attack. I then mentioned it to the people that I was having a meeting with; all of whom are medical professionals. One blurted out, "This is pure Fascism. I despise David Blunkett, and am horrified that they are getting away with this. What are we going to do about it?" None of these professionals knew that RIPA was being made law. Needless to say, once they found out about it, they were outraged and deeply offended. I encourage all of you to do what I did; tell people that you dont even know that this is at its very beginning, and that it can still be stopped. If everyone in the country is up in arms about it, it will be reveresed. This can only happen if there is 100% knowledge about the new powers. Tell everyone you know, and make them promise to tell at least two people.
Are Blogdialians using BlogThis? I just installed BlogThis for Mozilla and it makes the act of blogging that much easier/faster.
This is absolutely wrong. Say why.

Remarks by the President to the Press Pool Nothin' Fancy Cafe Roswell, New Mexico

11:25 A.M. MST THE PRESIDENT: I need some ribs. Q Mr. President, how are you? THE PRESIDENT: I'm hungry and I'm going to order some ribs. Q What would you like? THE PRESIDENT: Whatever you think I'd like. Q Sir, on homeland security, critics would say you simply haven't spent enough to keep the country secure. THE PRESIDENT: My job is to secure the homeland and that's exactly what we're going to do. But I'm here to take somebody's order. That would be you, Stretch -- what would you like? Put some of your high-priced money right here to try to help the local economy. You get paid a lot of money, you ought to be buying some food here. It's part of how the economy grows. You've got plenty of money in your pocket, and when you spend it, it drives the economy forward. So what would you like to eat? Q Right behind you, whatever you order. THE PRESIDENT: I'm ordering ribs. David, do you need a rib? Q But Mr. President -- THE PRESIDENT: Stretch, thank you, this is not a press conference. This is my chance to help this lady put some money in her pocket. Let me explain how the economy works. When you spend money to buy food it helps this lady's business. It makes it more likely somebody is going to find work. So instead of asking questions, answer mine: are you going to buy some food? Q Yes. THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. What would you like? Q Ribs. THE PRESIDENT: Ribs? Good. Let's order up some ribs. Q What do you think of the democratic field, sir? THE PRESIDENT: See, his job is to ask questions, he thinks my job is to answer every question he asks. I'm here to help this restaurant by buying some food. Terry, would you like something? Q An answer. Q Can we buy some questions? THE PRESIDENT: Obviously these people -- they make a lot of money and they're not going to spend much. I'm not saying they're overpaid, they're just not spending any money. Q Do you think it's all going to come down to national security, sir, this election? THE PRESIDENT: One of the things David does, he asks a lot of questions, and they're good, generally. END 11:29 A.M. MST http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040122-5.html I dont want Blogdial in the refferer logs of those bastards.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

please, miracle, happen and let us move to the country Amen brother. better than film ever was. hmmm digital is good for vegans because it doesnt use gelatin, made from gound up cows bones. Black Dice: NO Absolutely NO. I actually want to hear about specific acts that are new and that I have not heard yet, but of course, broke my own rule, and listed old stuff. Oh well. Lets add this truely wonderful thing that is doing it for me: Wagner: Das Rheingold- Thus, we begin in the green Oh dear, thats special! Solaris OST: now THAT I want to get.
rhythm & sound 'w/ the artists' burial mix various artists 'chicago one-stop: staff picks, vol. 1' aestuarium rope 'widow's first dawn' family vineyard michel krasna 'remembrance of things to come ost' argos films monolake 'momentum' [ml/i] russ gabriel 'voltage control' input neuron surgeon 'live @ u-club' mp3 edward artemiev 'solaris ost' toei music publishing popol vuh 'in the gardens of pharao/aguirre' celestial harmonies tim hecker 'radio amor' mille plateaux
One child genius to another: Study do you guys know about sho yano? modern-day doogie howser, md. i love the part where watson says to try and avoid girls. it is also interesting that he thinks we're getting close to curing cancer, so he cautions against entering that area of research. what a different world! re: black dice, i find their music boring and linear... dfa/constellation stuff in general, really. not really all that exciting to me. live they seem to be quite heavy-handed and dull. i don't get it. if i'm going to listen to noisy crescendo-rock, i'll take mogwai. all these other bands are a fad. you don't like wolf eyes, do you? i'd much rather put on a labradford lp.
Lets do the thing where we lists of what everybody thinks is cool right now. Ill start: The Bristols "Tune in With the Bristols" Gonna Cry Alvarius B & Cerberus Shoal "The Vim & Vigour Of Alvarius B & Cerberus Shoal" - Ding Thelonius Monk "Complete Riverside Recordings" Coming on the Hudson
That is BAD news. It has to be said, that NASA has the BEST language for when things go wrong: "Obviously a major malfunction" Chalenger Disaster. "There has been an anomaly" A delta rocket blows up. "This is a serious problem. This is an extremely serious anomaly" Spirit. On the same subject: "The rainy weather at the Deep Space Network communications station in Canberra hampered the transmission of commands from Earth to the Spirit rover today." From http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html Why dont they have a satelite in orbit specifically to get data from deep space missions? It would have to be a big dish, but really, the rain stopping a download is totally insane. Of course, all future missions could use this space dish, and I hope that they dont plan to send people to mars without such a communications setup. Can you imagine, "we cant get messages from the men on Mars because its raining in Australia". "If the spacecraft believes it's in a fault mode, its command rate should be 7.8 bits per second. We sent a beep today, this morning, about the time that we came down here to talk to you at 7.8. We sent a command that says if you get this send us a beep. And I'm told from Richard that Jennifer came down here to tell us that they think they got it," Theisinger said. Lets hope that they can get it to reboot!
MTV.com - News -Remixers Make Howard Dean's Scream Funky And Danceable
fuck!
Coachella Music and Arts Festival don't really know if i could take this extreme, either. radiohead, pixies, kraftwerk, and the cure have confirmed, which is exciting.
RE~TG my brother has tickets set aside (his friend reserved a berth, i think), but it's a lot to pay for travel and board. amazing lineup, though. not sure if i could take a whole weekend of it. addendum: too bad tg care about bands like black dice. they suck.
Religion and the Founding Fathers

UNITED

The UK Home Office has announced the next step in its love affair with biometrics. As of March, visa applicants in five east African countries will be required to provide a record of their fingerprints. This is what applicants for visas for the US have to do these days, but in Britain we appear to be going for the thin end of the wedge rather the 'fingerprint the lot of them' counterstrike favoured by the Brazilians. The Home Office move is an initiative to tackle asylum abuse rather than to guard against terrorism and, says the announcement, "is part of a Government action plan to tackle unfounded asylum claims from Somali nationals and fraudulent claims by individuals claiming to be Somalis [and] represents the next step in the Government?s phased roll-out of biometric technology to tackle immigration abuse." [...] http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/35034.html Hmmmm RTFA. On the surface, it makes sense; asylum seekers come into the UK, then destroy their passports so they cannot be identified. The state managed to catch seven people who had done this very thing, beacause they had been fingerprinted in advance of coming to the UK. There is a problem however. In order for this system to work, every police station and police car in the country is going to have to be kitted out with iris and fingerprinting equipment. Whenever they encounter someone who might be an asylum seeker, and this always means a "black(ish)" person, the only way to see if they are legal or illegal will be to fingerprint them on the spot. "Report to the police station within three days if you please sir." simply will not cut it. And as I have said before, if they do not show up on the database, what does that indicate? That they are in the country illegally but have not been previously scanned, or that they are OK by the database? The only way the system can work is if everyone in the UK is on th esystem. For certain, the police will be sweeping all foreign looking people on a daily basis. Imagine it; you get caught in a sweep taking place in Oxford Street, get scanned and then are released. You get on the underground, come out at Liverpool street, where they are doing another sweep, and you get scanned again. Even if you are reqired to carry ID before you leave your house, like the Belgians, people fitting the profile will be rotinely stopped for checks, multiple times, on a daily basis. Populations have rioted because of this sort of mistreatment; you can expect the same again, only on a much wider scale.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Bob Dylan Klebold
We call it "momentum": I realise this is very unAmerican of me but, you see, I'm not actually American. I'm British, and over here, on the whole, Blair notwithstanding, we mostly tend to work on the assumption that people are innocent until proven guilty. God knows, it's stupid of us to do this, but it does mostly work.The onus is on the prosecuting authority to prove that a person is guilty, rather than on the person to prove that he or she is innocent. It's fine and dandy to say 'if you're innocent, you've nothing to fear' but that doesn't go as far as you might think. [...] We call it "common sense": thirty years of IRA bombing campaigns on the mainland has made us Brits very vigilant, but you'll notice that life went on during that time � but vigilance is very different from the measures your administration is currently putting in place. Vigilance is an ongoing low-key kind of thing that involves people quietly observing and doing what needs to be done, not this arm-waving 'we're all going to die if we don't stop every brown-skinned person coming into our country' hysteria. Your country boasts continually about its intelligence gathering, yet from here I can't help thinking that your intelligence gathering isn't very effective if you can't actually find the people you're looking for � the ones who you claim to know about � without harrassing everyone else along the way. [...] We call it "resolve": Yours used to be a fine country, Mr Government Affairs Spokesman; I liked the straightforward way most people went about their business, and the 'how can we make things work for you' attitude. It was invigorating and I got a real buzz out of visiting. Now I'm not so sure I want to come and visit. I can stay at home and experience administrative paranoia; I don't need to see that your country can do it bigger and better than anyone else. I feel uncomfortable trying to deal with an administration that feels so threatened, without being able to define what that threat really is, that it has to tell itself bigger, ever more bizarre stories about perceived threats in order to justify its reactions to what are now effectively pieces of fluff moving in the breeze. [...] The British are the best. http://www.livejournal.com/users/brisingamen/223233.html
bass for your face
AlterNet: State of Whose Union?
Bell Labs Develops Engine for Cell Users Mon Jan 19, 2:46 PM ET By BRUCE MEYERSON, AP Business Writer NEW YORK - Now that wireless companies can track a mobile phone's location, customers will want to control exactly who knows where they are and when. Bell Labs says it has developed a network software engine that can let cell users be as picky as they choose about disclosing their whereabouts, a step that may help wireless companies introduce "location-based services" in a way customers will find handy rather than intrusive... Yahoo News
Aerogel is a silicon-based solid with a porous, sponge-like structure in which 99.8 percent of the volume is empty space. By comparison, aerogel is 1,000 times less dense than glass, another silicon-based solid. Discovered in the 1930s by a Stanford University researcher, aerogel is the world's lightest solid. http://www.spacer.com/news/materials-02c.html http://eande.lbl.gov/ECS/aerogels/sahist.htm http://www.nasatech.com/Spinoff/spinoff2001/ch5.html My emphasis. I didnt know that Aerogel was so old!!!
this has to be a sign

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

a different kind of 'link'
All you need is love
Robot belly-dancer shakes her stuff
30 rupees. I hope they didnt nick you. * Since 1957, all Disney workers had to be clean shaven (although Walt Disney himself had a moustache). This ban was lifted in 2000, allowing workers to grow moustaches, but not beards * Police authorities in Assam, India, are paying a monthly bonus to an officer who grows a moustache. One officer said �Having a big moustache is a symbol of masculinity and that helps you to excel in your professional duties as people are afraid to challenge you� (Daily Telegraph) * Beards grow faster in spring, possibly indicating a seasonal variation in androgen (male hormone) production * Sharing electric razors has been blamed for spreading diseases such as viral hepatitis * There have been cases of men who fail to grow a beard on one side of the face, but this is very rare http://www.embarrassingproblems.com/pages2/shavingrash.htm
FYI

Monday, January 19, 2004

When President Bush signed the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2004 on November 24, 2003, the event received considerable attention in the news media. At $401.3 billion, the public's visible cost of funding the nation's defense seemed to be reaching astronomical heights, and the president took pains to justify that enormous cost by linking it to the horrors of 9/11 and to the �war on terror.� He pledged that �we will do whatever it takes to keep our nation strong, to keep the peace, and to keep the American people secure,� clearly implying that such payoffs would accrue from the expenditures and other measures that the act authorizes. Although the public may appreciate that $401.3 billion is a great deal of money, few citizens realize that it is only part of the total bill for defense. Lodged elsewhere in the budget, other lines identify funding that serves defense purposes just as surely as -- sometimes even more surely than -- the money allocated to the Department of Defense (DoD). On occasion, commentators take note of some of these additional defense-related budget items, such as the nuclear-weapons activities of the Department of Energy (DoE), but many such items, including some extremely large ones, remain generally unrecognized. [...] Defense Outlays in Fiscal Year 2002 (billions of dollars) Department of Defense 344.4 Department of Energy 18.5 Department of State 17.6 Department of Veterans Affairs 50.9 Agencies incorporated into Department of Homeland Security 17.5 Department of Justice (homeland security) 2.1 Department of Transportation (homeland security) 1.4 Department of the Treasury (homeland security) 0.1 National Aeronautics & Space Administration (homeland security) 0.2 Other agencies (homeland security) 4.7 Interest attributable to past debt-financed defense outlays 138.7 Total 596.1 http://www.independent.org/tii/news/031222Higgs.html
Dec. 16, 2003 (Salon) On Saturday, Nov. 22, a few dozen police on bicycles rode by the warehouse that activists protesting Miami's Free Trade of the Americas summit were using as a welcome center. The big protest had taken place on Thursday, Nov. 20, and most demonstrators had already dispersed. Some were in jail, others were nursing their injuries. But the cops wanted to deliver a final message to those still around. "Bye! Don't come back here!" shouted one. A pudgy officer gave the finger to an activist with a video camera. "Put that on your Web site," he said. "Fuck you." It was the end of two days of what many observers called unprecedented police vindictiveness and violence toward activists. Certainly, complaints about the police have become a standard ritual after each major globalization protest. But what happened in Miami, say protesters, lawyers, journalists and union leaders, was anything but routine. Armed with millions of dollars of new equipment and inflamed by weeks of warnings about anarchists out to destroy their city, police in Miami donned riot gear, assembled by the thousand, put the city on lockdown and unleashed an arsenal of crowd control weaponry on overwhelmingly peaceful gatherings. Videos taken at the scene show protesters being beaten with wooden clubs, shocked with Taser guns, shot in the back with rubber bullets and beanbags, and pepper-sprayed in the face. Retirees were held handcuffed and refused water for hours. Medics and legal observers, arrested in large numbers, say they were targeted. A female journalist, arrested during a mass roundup, was made to strip in front of a male policeman. A woman's entire breast turned purple-black after she was shot there, point-blank, with a rubber bullet. Afterward, many observers said the same thing: "This is not America." Civil libertarians, though, worry that -- in an era when legitimate homeland security fears have begun to edge over into hysterical paranoia about "anarchists" -- it might offer a glimpse of where America's response to protest is headed. [...] "This is not America" sorry Ken, had to add that to this important post! ./a
Micro$oft Baiting; the new internet sport!

Coalition faces new battlefront

BORZOU DARAGAHI IN FALLUJAH POP music was always meant to be subversive but in Iraq it is proving to be too subversive for the coalition. As Americans flood Iraq�s airwaves with radio stations playing harmless Western and Arab pop tunes, the young are turning elsewhere for their musical inspiration. They turn to artists like Sabah al-Jenabi who sings: "America has come and occupied Baghdad. The army and people have weapons and ammunition. Let�s go fight and call out the name of God." Banned from the air, such songs are proving increasingly popular in the CD and tape shops of Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi. As anti-United States rebels shoot down helicopters at a rate of about one a week in the Fallujah area, al-Jenabi�s tunes ring out in the bazaars of central Iraq. "The men of Fallujah are men of hard tasks," he sings in an Arabic dialect only people from Fallujah and Ramadi can decipher. "They paralysed America with rocket-propelled grenades. May God protect them from [United States] planes." [...] http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=64722004

Sunday, January 18, 2004

kool torrentz 4u
http://www.mrbill.com/MBWashington.wmv
http://www.asahi.com/english/nation/TKY200401160150.html PRIVACY MATTERS: Assembly chief leaks resident's data The Asahi Shimbun, 16/1/04 NAGANO-Information disclosure laws seem to work two ways in Nagano Prefecture, a curious resident has learned to his chagrin. After the man applied Jan. 9 for the release of travel data on three prefectural assembly members who had gone on business trips using public funds, administrators leaked the man's personal data to the very people he was checking... === Northwest Gave U.S. Data on Passengers Airline Had Denied Sharing Information For Security Effort By Sara Kehaulani Goo Washington Post, January 18, 2004; Page A01 Northwest Airlines provided information on millions of passengers for a secret U.S. government air-security project soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, raising more concerns among some privacy advocates about the airlines' use of confidential customer data. The nation's fourth-largest airline asserted in September that it "did not provide that type of information to anyone." But Northwest acknowledged Friday that by that time, it had already turned over three months of reservation data to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center. Northwest is the second carrier to have been identified as secretly passing travelers' records to the government... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26422-2004Jan17.html
This is just sooooo perverted!
Turn a URL into a bmp: http://www.pixel-technology.com/freeware/url2bmp/english/

Saturday, January 17, 2004

Los Angeles -- In a forceful preview of the Bush administration's expansionist military policies in this election year, Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday painted a grim picture of what he said was the growing threat of a catastrophic terrorist attack in the United States and warned that the battle, like the Cold War, could last generations. [...] SF Gate Just imagine if no one co-operates with this insanity. There is another outrage. No one reacts. No one will volunteer up for war or agree to pay for it. This predicion falls flat on its face. If it does not fall flat on its face, then for certain, the second or third generation down the line will not know how it all started, and we will have arrived in Orwell's predicited state whose only purpose is to be at war. I pledge not to join any army to fight in any war for any reason. I pledge not to knowingly finance any war or preparation for war. And you? What this man is saying is, in effect, that the failure of this one administration is going to set the world alight for multiple generations. What absolute arrogance. The world's population will not have it however. Take this pledge, and run with it, because it is the only way we are going to put these maniacs out of business.
On Wednesday our darling Iraqi Puppet Council decided that secular Iraqi family law would no longer be secular- it is now going to be according to Islamic Shari'a. Shari'a is Islamic law, whether from the Quran or quotes of the Prophet or interpretations of modern Islamic law by clerics and people who have dedicated their lives to studying Islam. An Iraqui Blogger You are in deep(er) shit now.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Goatse/petition.html
> I know you came along to $radiostation way back and did $presenters show and > wondered if you might have some radio programs up your sleeve as we are > moving things about and have some slots for the new year Thanks for offering, ill keep it in mind just in case. I dont know if you have been reading the irdial weblog, if you had, you would know that right now for all of us the ship has sunk, there are only one or two lifeboats afloat and everyone is desperately clinging to one of those two boats. You know who they are. If its your time to let go, its best to do it with dignity instead of hanging onto an illusion that the rescue ship will arrive from over the horizon and pick everyone up. The faces are too familiar. The noises too self similar. If there is a rescue ship, we vote to swim for it instead of gripping with our fingernails to the sides of an oarless rudderless life boat, doomed to have only 7 people left on it, old bedraggled and starving. If we swim in the wrong direction, then we go down trying, away from the smell of rotting flesh being cannibalized. If we swim in the /right/ direction, why, its cigars turkey and all the booze we drink. And we will be the /heroes/. Now, how likely is that? One degree in 360. Only one way out. Only one correct path. If we dont make it we dissapear into the black. Better that than to become an emaciated cannibal sitting stock still in an unmoving lifeboat.
Milblogs. This makes me uneasy. The wars since WW2 have not been about securing freedom of speech. That is simply a lie. To say that these soldiers are in Iraq and all the other places protecting freedom of speech is also a lie. Soldiers can blog. They can say whatever they like within the guidelines set down by their commanders. What is disturbing about reading these blogs is the feeling that the civilian way of live is merging with the military way of life, so that you cannot tell where one begins and the other ends. The military and its use, should be an ultimate last resort when a country is threatened by another. It should never be used pre-emptively, or as a tool of "regime change". Soldiers and their way of life should be completely separate from civilian life; what they do, taking life is so profoundly serious that the military should have the air of a monastery. Their lingo should not creep into everyday speech. They should not be portrayed as ordinary people. They are not. They are government killers, financed by the electorate, who bear the responsibility of their actions. It is this collective responsibility that makes outrageous mass slaughter of civilians justified, since the military of high technology states are untouchable by the armies of non-technological states. The only way they can fight back against bullying is to hit the people who sent the soldiers; and it works. It has worked historically and in recent times. Soldiering is serioius. By all means support your family members if they have joined the army, but the embracing of military culture, the fetishizing of military equipment is absolutely wrong, revolting and evil. We have all seen it; the salivating over statistics of what weapons can do, the obscene parades of soldiers giving greetings either side of commercial breaks. All of this makes the military more familiar, more of an option, like becoming a milkman or a bus driver. The military is alien to human nature, its purpose, to kill people, violence represents human failure at its most profound. We should hold the military and its culture at arms length. Times ten.

Friday, January 16, 2004

http://margaretcho.com/attacks_from_the_right.htm
CBS rejects anti Bush Advert. But it wont be enough to keep him in office you traitors!
yeah, this will catch on karlheinz essl connection: isn't he the guy who wrote 'amazing maze', an installation piece, which autechre quote-unquote borrowed for one of their tracks by simply replacing the sound files? i believe they also provided no credit to essl on the recording.
'i tried to talk to mingus,' recalls bill, 'but he wouldn't even look me in the eye, though his wife leaned across his belly and said: 'he liked it a lot'.'
Those posts are from the priceless Perversiontracker where there are many many more.
http://www.melonsoft.com/products/bubbledrum/
fLOW is an audio computer program running on Apple Macintosh machines. It generates an ever-changing and never repeating soundscape in real time that fills the space with flooding sounds that resemble - metaphorically - the timbres of water, fire, earth, and air. This ambient sound scape generator adjusts itself through various parameters and controllers that are represented in real time on your screen. http://www.essl.at/works/flow/download.html
PLASTICOM is a computer software for pre-operative plastic surgery communication between the patient and the surgeon. The patient knows what he wants and the surgeon knows what he can do. PLASTICOM is the missing link, as it provides visual, interactive information to both of them at the same time. http://www.ex-cinder.com/plasticom.html
Get your war on; Right on target.
DIY for Dav
Imagine an iPod with this.
Last March, I had the opportunity to meet Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, at his film complex in lush, green, otherworldly-looking Wellington, New Zealand. Jackson has done something unlikely in Wellington, an exciting, cosmopolitan city of 900,000, but not one previously considered a world cultural capital. He has built a permanent facility there, perhaps the world's most sophisticated filmmaking complex. He did it in New Zealand concertedly and by design. Jackson, a Wellington native, realized what many American cities discovered during the '90s: Paradigm-busting creative industries could single-handedly change the ways cities flourish and drive dynamic, widespread economic change. It took Jackson and his partners a while to raise the resources, but they purchased an abandoned paint factory that, in a singular example of adaptive reuse, emerged as the studio responsible for the most breathtaking trilogy of films ever made. He realized, he told me, that with the allure of the Rings trilogy, he could attract a diversely creative array of talent from all over the world to New Zealand; the best cinematographers, costume designers, sound technicians, computer graphic artists, model builders, editors, and animators. When I visited, I met dozens of Americans from places like Berkeley and MIT working alongside talented filmmakers from Europe and Asia, the Americans asserting that they were ready to relinquish their citizenship. Many had begun the process of establishing residency in New Zealand. [...] As other nations become more attractive to mobile immigrant talent, America is becoming less so. A recent study by the National Science Board found that the U.S. government issued 74,000 visas for immigrants to work in science and technology in 2002, down from 166,000 in 2001--an astonishing drop of 55 percent. This is matched by similar, though smaller-scale, declines in other categories of talented immigrants, from finance experts to entertainers. Part of this contraction is derived from what we hope are short-term security concerns--as federal agencies have restricted visas from certain countries after September 11. More disturbingly, we find indications that fewer educated foreigners are choosing to come to the United States. For instance, most of the decline in science and technology immigrants in the National Science Board study was due to a drop in applications. [...] Youssou N'Dour, perhaps the globe's most famous music artist, cancelled his largest-ever U.S. tour last spring to protest the invasion of Iraq. [...] http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0401.florida.html Its started. No one, especially anyone with an education, is going to put up with fascism american style. There are other countries, more civilized countries, and people are simply going to go to those places, meet in those places, and thats the end of the story. All of this is so sad, so pointless and unnecessary...its heartbreaking. I spoke to some americans today, who did not know that Europeans are being fingerprinted when they enter the USA. They have no idea of what the us government is doing; its simply incredible. I said it before, and ill say it again. If any country can stop on a dime and reverse its course its the USA. I hope to God that they do it.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

My crystal ball says you will become a Linux g00r00.
Did you eat the toast though? I certainly did. And buttered it myself. In future situations similar to this I advise you fix their gaze with your own and state, firmly, "In that case, I have no option but to call the police". First bellylaugh of the day!!!!!!!!!
tell what status the column has in the real paper, The Guardian are working on a pay service where the newspaper, as it appears in print , is the navigational aid. To me, this is insane. You can get the entire paper online for nothing. Using the papers real world layout as a navigation aid is simply avoiding the hard task of innovating a new and efficient navigation aid. You cant comment. Its pointless; they would be better off running Slash than doing this. Technically its brilliantly executed. This is what it looks like in Mozilla: But then again, it all makes sense, given the two illiterate articles that we have just been exposed to.
WE=LL BE GLAD TO BUTTER YOUR TOAST UPON REQUEST. Lovely There is a place in London that I used to use for Breakfast. I ordered buttered toast. I waited. The food arrived, and the waitress said; "The Chef refuses to butter your toast". Needless to say, after that appaling behaviour I never go there. Ever.
Its official; The Guardian has lost the plot: "Anyone arguing that Britain shouldn't repair its railways because a future regime might transport undesirables to death camps by train would be dismissed as a nutter. Yet apparently intelligent people trot out the same argument against proposals to repair the state's outdated data infrastructure. These self-appointed guardians say we should oppose the proposed national population register because of the use to which a totalitarian government might put it. Likewise identity cards and, with better reason for concern, DNA databases [...] http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1122844,00.html

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

all that and Elvis too
Starting here: http://www.restaurant.ca/mtl/restos/75rstmtl/main_frm_en.shtml
I think the world would be a far better place if we all bought locally regardless. Think of all the local talent you can support!
"About a quarter of American exports go to Canada. More than 85 per cent of Canada's exports go to the United States. Cripple that trade, and we create a major victory aggainst those who are at war against our values and our way of life." Excerpt from Notes for remarks by Paul M. Tellier, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian National Railway Company, at the Traffic Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 11, 2001. John, Mary $canadians: You know what to do!
The funny thing, there are thousands of miles un-patrolled border between Canada and the United States. Literally, you can hump over the hills to cross into either country. Just like in high school, when we wanted to go to a bush party and avoid the police block, we would put our illegal substances in our backpacks and go on a little trek. Which was really fun if you were on mushrooms ...
"Son of a Bush and his crew is at it again, because, we do not want 8 years run by a Colon, a Bush and a Dick." http://www.drudgereport.com/mattmo3.htm
A smart, secure border
Database of Doom
http://amnesia.weblog.com.pt/
i've seen that i think, unless it's a new one. it's literally the whole movie in ascii format, is it not?
port username password?
YEAH RIGHT NO FUCKING WAY!!!!!!
Where have I been? This is terrible news! I have sent out the feelers, will report back my findings ...
URLS URLS!
Mary, John??? U.S. border agents will soon have access to the immigration and tax records of Canadian residents for use in nabbing terrorists before they cross the American border. U.S. officials said an impending merger of Canadian and U.S. immigration and customs databases will also help them intercept illegal aliens, criminals and fugitives. Officials said the measure will give U.S. front-line agents the power to check Canadian residents -- citizens, immigrants, refugees or visitors -- driving into the U.S. at land crossings. They said U.S. officers will have access to Revenue Canada files, which contain tax information on Canadians, including their work records, property owned and investments. That information may lead to unemployed people being refused entry into the U.S., officers said. The merging of databases is one of 32 points in a smart border action plan that has been in the works since 2002. [...] http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/01/08/307878.html
So far, open source has mainly continued Stallman's approach of cloning Unix and, more recently, Windows originals. This makes it relatively easy to unify developments among programmers who don't even know one another. But what will happen when they run out of things to clone? Excuse me? "Windows Originals"??!?! Oh my, the Guardian has no quality control when it comes to this subject obviously! Windows Originals is an oxymoron. The open source movement currently has no way of developing independent software architectures, or even of performing simple usability testing. And it shows. Gnome is slick. KDE is hight polished. What this line shows is that the author is completely ignorant of what is out there. Fact checking;. Its a bore, but it makes you look smarter than you are. Try it! And as for usability testing, Gnome is doing this...cant you people READ? And without a Stallman-style ideological commitment, it is hard to see why any bright young programmer with a brilliant idea should decide not to become a billionaire and give it all away. [...] You mean like Linus Torvalds? The action that this one man took has changed everything. Its only hard to see if you are a blind Jackass. Logically, open source will result in a software industry that is not just without significant profits but without the profit motive. It will be interesting to see if it works. [...] Netcraft says Guardian websites are running on Apache Your email runs on sendmail. Looks like its working the world over. OMG This is... a TROLL!!!
Thanks for that link meau2 I completely understand how reverse billing works; what I meant was, I clicked on SMSPAY against one of the tracks and was not taken to a page where I could sign up, neither could I find anything about it in the FAQ or the Help pages. I researched Reverse Billing in 2002 for a set of projects; there are many providers of services, the coolest ones let you use a custom API to interface with whatever service you want to create. I wonder if straight SMS for content is going to catch on? There was a service in Germany that you had to pre charge with your credit card (useless, since you just want to be able to click "buy now", enter your number, be verified and then get the goods) that worked with SMS, but it folded. The "problem" is that the SMS reverse billing ecosystem is not hetrogenous; it is made up of islands of users locked into the different providers. If you could do reverse billing of ALL GSM landers transparently, everything would change over nigh. You would have hundreds of millions of potential customers all inside a single system. It would be awesome. There is also the problem of the artificial cap on how much can be reverse billed in a single message. You can get over this by sending multiple messages, but each of these costs the content provider 2p.
I wonder how it will fare. I cant find info on how the SMS pay works!
Squashing down the power law: http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/interestingnewcomers.html
Could this be the reason Grand Royal has gone Chapter 11?
Mortar attack in Afganistan

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

wow, so 0 bids, 8 days left, huh...$10,000 could buy the label with the rights to the rad liquid liquid compilation...and, erm luscious jackson, jimmy eat world, and the propellerheads. ugh. no thanks. at the drive in killed it for them. they banked on that band being huge, and they were crap, and they folded. whoops. can you believe the beasties said that they were 'sorry' for the misogynist lyrics on paul's boutique? give me a break. also: that track they did about 9/11 was HILARIOUS(ly awful).
Grand Royal LLC record label for auction. Various master recordings, license agreements, recording agreements and misc. contracts available. This is an excellent business opportunity! For more information about this asset including the licensing agreements, recording agreements and master tapes, click on the due diligence tab above. Copies of the actual licensing agreements and recording agreements are available by contacting service@bid4assets.com. Please provide your name, address and telephone number in your email request so that we can mail you the CD containing these agreements. [...] Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
the genius of capitalism? hah! nice one.
New York Daily News - Daily Dish & Gossip - Lloyd Grove's Lowdown: W & aides broadcast media hate
CNN.com - German police investigate potato computer scam - Jan. 13, 2004
"One day some bright bean counter will realize that DRM and other anti-consumer technology creates a high-friction "diseconomy of scale"market. The addition of complex security to each node of a network market (music) will produce an exponential slowdown of that market over time. " http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/34848.html I Like it.®™
Swiss collar terrorists through their mobiles silicon.com, January 12 2004 by Jo Best A Swiss mobile operator has helped to crack an al-Qaeda cell linked to terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia - by using their mobile phone numbers. The provider, Swisscom, offers pay-as-you-go mobiles for which users don't need to register their details and also offers coverage that spans 155 countries worldwide. Following the bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia in May last year, Swiss police began monitoring pre-pay phone numbers that they believed were linked to the attacks... Later this year, a law passed by the Swiss parliament is expected to go into effect which will prohibit the sale of SIM cards that can be used without any details being registered. Should we expect the UK to follow the Swiss example? It is unlikely, according to a Vodafone spokeswoman, because it simply wouldn't stop criminals... registering the details of shoppers buying pay-as-you-go phones would be ineffective as criminals don't buy them themselves. They're more likely to buy a resold phone... http://www.silicon.com/networks/mobile/0,39024665,39117732,00.htm Some common sense leaking through from Vodafone. The Swiss police can catch anyone using a mobile number by tracking them down to the cell that they are in. They dont need ordinary citizens to give their details before buying a SIM to do this, in fact, its better that anyone can get a phone easily, it makes the bad guys lax. Mobile providers know who the bad guys are by using traffic analysis; they can give the police the two end points of all calls, down to the cell every time. By building up a pattern of use, they can get the bad guys with a simple road block. Once again, criminals have good ID. ID cant stop crime. ID cant stop ourages. Deal witih it.