More Beards, Less Political Talk in Gaza
Still, many people are apprehensive, their fears stoked by Hamas hard-liners like Mahmoud Zahar, who said this week that he envisions a time when "with God's help, Islam will be in every home."
Not making enemies is a preferred survival tactic two weeks after Hamas militiamen defeated Fatah fighters loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"It's not safe to say anything," said Samir Filfel, 42, a school guard who spent Friday with his wife and 10 children at Gaza City's beach. Reflecting his caution, he erected a tent made of Hamas, Fatah and PLO flags as a sunshade.
Hmmm... if you read this , the barber shop is selling flags , and mugs and stuff in support of the defacto ruling Hamas because these people are afraid of them. Not because they are poplular. What an odd switch from a western democracy.
I remember once a member of parliment , I forgot his name , was going door to door canvasing to get re-elected, and he had a group of guys with him to prevent trouble. (This is canada , no one has guns except the cops) When he came to my door I looked at him and then slambed the door shut on him , as I would any door to door salesman. I was drunk at the time and thought it was pretty funny.
Do that in the Gaza strip, they'll probably kick down the door and shoot everyone in the place.
Next time you see a crowd of people with flags cheering and supporting someone or other in the middle east or a third world banana repoublic, remember. They don't really support him. They're just afraid they'll get shot if they don't cheer loud enough.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Memo to Gordon Brown
London car bombs a memo from al-Qaeda to new PM
A FAILED plot to detonate two car bombs in central London appears to have been inspired by al-Qaeda and intended as a message to the British Government led by Gordon Brown, terrorism analysts believe.
Police defused two bombs left in cars that were found in London's entertainment district late on Friday and yesterday, two days after Mr Brown succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister.
Dear Gordon,
We here at Al-Queda would like you to know that we're totally incompetant terrorist wanna-be's that are really lucky those bombs diddn't go off and kill us when we were setting them up. We're also really not that dedicated as our middle eastern brothers since we're just not into the whole suicide thingy. Yes , we want to oppress our fellow human being and make them slaves to our made up and false religion , but we don't want to actually have to die doing it. I mean come on, there's dedication , and then there's stupidity !
Sincerely ,
A pack of not so suicidal bombers
China : You *MUST* take our poisoned goods !
China protests U.S. block on Chinese seafood
"China cannot accept the indiscriminate and automatic detention of four kinds of Chinese seafood by the United States" Li Changjiang, the head of China's top quality watchdog, was quoted as saying.
We have no way to control what you produce , you're a foriegn nation.
Your crud has poison in it , no one wants it no matter how small the amounts are.
"Buy our junk anyways or we'll make a big stink about it" just doesn't cut it. No one cares how big a stink you make , I'm not knowningly putting poison in my mouth.
"China cannot accept the indiscriminate and automatic detention of four kinds of Chinese seafood by the United States" Li Changjiang, the head of China's top quality watchdog, was quoted as saying.
We have no way to control what you produce , you're a foriegn nation.
Your crud has poison in it , no one wants it no matter how small the amounts are.
"Buy our junk anyways or we'll make a big stink about it" just doesn't cut it. No one cares how big a stink you make , I'm not knowningly putting poison in my mouth.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Evil Desktop Search
Read an Article on the google desktop search (they're setting it up for Linux) and I thought I'd comment on the evilness of it ,which no one else is doing.
The Desktop search is a search bar located on your desk top. What does it mean ? It means when you do a search they can identify YOU PERSONALLY because it makes you fill out all these forms and such. Now every time you do a search it's recorded and locked to you , instead of just being a random search in the vast mix of random searches. Now when you visit google or some google owned site (Didi I mention Google just bought doubleclick.com , the largest internet advertiser about and they're on almost every single web page everywhere ? ) you get ads targted specifically to you.
And they track this information for years. So if you use the search to go to every site , and they certainly encourage that , doing everything they can to discourage , even hide, the address bar, then they know every site you've visited for years.
Annoying when used simply for advertising purposes.
Bad , if you get accused of any crime at all , since if they keep records, the FBI can supena them. Having a nasty divorce with your wife ? She's accusing you of all sorts of wild things ? They can get a court order to pull those records. Are you of arabic decent ? some random cop in the US says Hmmm... He's probably a muslim , lets see what he's been looking at on the internet ...
I have a friend , well an aquantence...when I mention this he says "thats what you get for surfing kiddy porn sites". I also have a brother who went through a really nasty divorce. We're talking bad, the wife just invents things off the top of her head , pretended to be deaf in court (she's not) , the whole nine yards. If google had been doing this kind of thing at the time of the divorce , you can bet she'd have had someone go through the records to look for anything incriminating.
I grant you google just wants to make a profit, they're not interested in creating a totalitarian state. But in the persuit of the all mighty buck , they are running us all down that road.
The Desktop search is a search bar located on your desk top. What does it mean ? It means when you do a search they can identify YOU PERSONALLY because it makes you fill out all these forms and such. Now every time you do a search it's recorded and locked to you , instead of just being a random search in the vast mix of random searches. Now when you visit google or some google owned site (Didi I mention Google just bought doubleclick.com , the largest internet advertiser about and they're on almost every single web page everywhere ? ) you get ads targted specifically to you.
And they track this information for years. So if you use the search to go to every site , and they certainly encourage that , doing everything they can to discourage , even hide, the address bar, then they know every site you've visited for years.
Annoying when used simply for advertising purposes.
Bad , if you get accused of any crime at all , since if they keep records, the FBI can supena them. Having a nasty divorce with your wife ? She's accusing you of all sorts of wild things ? They can get a court order to pull those records. Are you of arabic decent ? some random cop in the US says Hmmm... He's probably a muslim , lets see what he's been looking at on the internet ...
I have a friend , well an aquantence...when I mention this he says "thats what you get for surfing kiddy porn sites". I also have a brother who went through a really nasty divorce. We're talking bad, the wife just invents things off the top of her head , pretended to be deaf in court (she's not) , the whole nine yards. If google had been doing this kind of thing at the time of the divorce , you can bet she'd have had someone go through the records to look for anything incriminating.
I grant you google just wants to make a profit, they're not interested in creating a totalitarian state. But in the persuit of the all mighty buck , they are running us all down that road.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Dollar Store Investigation
I visit the dollar store frequently , and buy stuff, of course. How can you not buy stuff ,it's only a buck for something. Or less.
Intersting question. Has technology made our life easier by manufacturing goods cheaply for us ?
Where else would you find such cheap goods, than a dollar store ?
Glasses and dishes : no frills no nonsense , they work good. Any cracked ones you just leave on the shelf.
Plastic containers. : works great !
Spill proof coffee mug : not so spill proof. Leaked coffee onto my shirt the first time I used it. Dropped it into the trash quick.
Delicate screw driver set : Suitable for fixing glasses. Works great !
Towels and Hand Cloths : work great !
Electrical extension cord : Came pre-broken out of the box. Never did see it work. Tossed it.
Ear Bud head phones for my mp3 player : tinny and hard to hear. Tossed them.
Blank Note Books : The pages usually fall out. Toss.
Pens : I'm Batting 4 out of 5 were broken. Current set works, previous four never did write.
Music CD Christmas Tunes : Sounded like someone programmed a computer to play those tunes. The CD technically worked, but it was actually painful to listen to the ... sounds, I hesitate to call it music. And there was no musician listed, apparently the "artist" declined to take the credit / blame for this. Tossed
Watch : Attempted to set the time. Watch promptly broke and never worked again. Tossed.
Wait ! I am seeing a pattern emerge !
If it's simple, a pot , a pan , a plate, a cup , a towel , etc, it works very well from the dollar store.
If it has moving parts (pen , notebook , any electronics, etc) it probably doesn't work.
Interesting pattern. :)
Intersting question. Has technology made our life easier by manufacturing goods cheaply for us ?
Where else would you find such cheap goods, than a dollar store ?
Glasses and dishes : no frills no nonsense , they work good. Any cracked ones you just leave on the shelf.
Plastic containers. : works great !
Spill proof coffee mug : not so spill proof. Leaked coffee onto my shirt the first time I used it. Dropped it into the trash quick.
Delicate screw driver set : Suitable for fixing glasses. Works great !
Towels and Hand Cloths : work great !
Electrical extension cord : Came pre-broken out of the box. Never did see it work. Tossed it.
Ear Bud head phones for my mp3 player : tinny and hard to hear. Tossed them.
Blank Note Books : The pages usually fall out. Toss.
Pens : I'm Batting 4 out of 5 were broken. Current set works, previous four never did write.
Music CD Christmas Tunes : Sounded like someone programmed a computer to play those tunes. The CD technically worked, but it was actually painful to listen to the ... sounds, I hesitate to call it music. And there was no musician listed, apparently the "artist" declined to take the credit / blame for this. Tossed
Watch : Attempted to set the time. Watch promptly broke and never worked again. Tossed.
Wait ! I am seeing a pattern emerge !
If it's simple, a pot , a pan , a plate, a cup , a towel , etc, it works very well from the dollar store.
If it has moving parts (pen , notebook , any electronics, etc) it probably doesn't work.
Interesting pattern. :)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Ubuntu Reboot: Jun 26
Ubuntu machine got slow and laggy. Hadn't actually crashed, but everything was taking too long.
Cold booted it. (that means turn it off , unplug the power for five seconds, plug it back in turn it on). Works great now.
30 days between reboots. And thats using the machine. Constantly playing music, me and my wife taking turns surfing on it, writing blog entries, working on my novel...you know...getting milage out of it rather than just turning it on , running one program , and walking away.
Beat that , Microsoft !
:)
Cold booted it. (that means turn it off , unplug the power for five seconds, plug it back in turn it on). Works great now.
30 days between reboots. And thats using the machine. Constantly playing music, me and my wife taking turns surfing on it, writing blog entries, working on my novel...you know...getting milage out of it rather than just turning it on , running one program , and walking away.
Beat that , Microsoft !
:)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
"We Want to Know how a Group Reacts en Route to Mars
Article
You know, that is a fascinating question. 520 days in isolation to get to mars. Uh huh.
But what about the trip back ?
Oh we don't care about that , they can all go crazy and kill themselves at that point , we'll have gotten what we want out of them.
lol !!!!!
It makes you wonder , sometimes. :)
You know, that is a fascinating question. 520 days in isolation to get to mars. Uh huh.
But what about the trip back ?
Oh we don't care about that , they can all go crazy and kill themselves at that point , we'll have gotten what we want out of them.
lol !!!!!
It makes you wonder , sometimes. :)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
£80,000 reward to 'execute' Rushdie as knighthood row escalates
Article
The international row over Salman Rushdie's knighthood escalated after Islamic extremists placed a £80,000 bounty on the writer's head.
"Salman Rushdie has turned into a hated corpse which cannot be resurrected by any action," Mohammad Reza Bahonar, first deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, said in an address to the house.
"This is an occasion for the world's 1.5billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," said Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, Pakistan's religious affairs minister.
"The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism," he told his country's parliament.
"If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so, unless the British government apologises and withdraws the 'sir' title."
Ok. Lets Review.
The muslim world, or at least several muslim countries (Iran ,Pakistan) have decided to attempt to interfere in the internal activities of a nation (great britain) , to wit the british government in dealing with a british citizen.
An official of the Pakistan government openly advocates a car bomb be planted by the british parliment. (Inciting terrorism)
This is not the first time the Muslims have gotten angry at the internal affairs of other nations. Remember that dutch cartoonist with his ill thought out cartoon ?
One might pass it over as just another cartoon issue , but it is not. Why ? Relates to critism. Are you aloud to coldly analyze a religious work and come to your own conclusions, as Rushdie did when he wrote his novel (never mind what the conclusion was, thats irrelevent) , or are the priests of that religion the only ones allowed to do that ?
My answer is yes, you should be allowed to read it and come to your own conclusions, even if those conclusions differ from that of the priests.
The Muslim conclusion is No , and since you disagree with me I'm going to kill you now.
Conversion by the sword went out of style a long time ago. Those who attempt it are quite rightly put down , violently if need be. People will beilieve what they choose to believe , and if you pull out a weapon and try to change their mind by force, it will be you on the receiving end of the force.
In the end , this is a sad statement to the strength , or lack of , of the teachings of the Koran. That they are so weak that they must be backed up by force, lest people disreguard it. Perhaps the Imans realize this , and realize that if they ever lose their grip of terror and threats and executions on their population of slaves, I mean worshippers, they'll lose it all, and islam will vanish in a puff of smoke as people abandon it en mass.
Or perhaps they should trust in their prophet , and quit polluting his work with their own narrow short sighted immediate goals that do more damage to their own religion than all the western nations combined. Perhaps if they actually cared for their religion as if it were some kind of holy work , instead of looking at it as if it were a club useful only for beating people with , it wouldn't get villified so often by the people you're hitting with it.
The international row over Salman Rushdie's knighthood escalated after Islamic extremists placed a £80,000 bounty on the writer's head.
"Salman Rushdie has turned into a hated corpse which cannot be resurrected by any action," Mohammad Reza Bahonar, first deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, said in an address to the house.
"This is an occasion for the world's 1.5billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," said Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, Pakistan's religious affairs minister.
"The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism," he told his country's parliament.
"If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so, unless the British government apologises and withdraws the 'sir' title."
Ok. Lets Review.
The muslim world, or at least several muslim countries (Iran ,Pakistan) have decided to attempt to interfere in the internal activities of a nation (great britain) , to wit the british government in dealing with a british citizen.
An official of the Pakistan government openly advocates a car bomb be planted by the british parliment. (Inciting terrorism)
This is not the first time the Muslims have gotten angry at the internal affairs of other nations. Remember that dutch cartoonist with his ill thought out cartoon ?
One might pass it over as just another cartoon issue , but it is not. Why ? Relates to critism. Are you aloud to coldly analyze a religious work and come to your own conclusions, as Rushdie did when he wrote his novel (never mind what the conclusion was, thats irrelevent) , or are the priests of that religion the only ones allowed to do that ?
My answer is yes, you should be allowed to read it and come to your own conclusions, even if those conclusions differ from that of the priests.
The Muslim conclusion is No , and since you disagree with me I'm going to kill you now.
Conversion by the sword went out of style a long time ago. Those who attempt it are quite rightly put down , violently if need be. People will beilieve what they choose to believe , and if you pull out a weapon and try to change their mind by force, it will be you on the receiving end of the force.
In the end , this is a sad statement to the strength , or lack of , of the teachings of the Koran. That they are so weak that they must be backed up by force, lest people disreguard it. Perhaps the Imans realize this , and realize that if they ever lose their grip of terror and threats and executions on their population of slaves, I mean worshippers, they'll lose it all, and islam will vanish in a puff of smoke as people abandon it en mass.
Or perhaps they should trust in their prophet , and quit polluting his work with their own narrow short sighted immediate goals that do more damage to their own religion than all the western nations combined. Perhaps if they actually cared for their religion as if it were some kind of holy work , instead of looking at it as if it were a club useful only for beating people with , it wouldn't get villified so often by the people you're hitting with it.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Norton Personal Firewall
Article = None , personal experience
The windows fire wall has a habit of letting through who it wants , and you have no way to stop that. Thus I download "coffee cup FTP" and it gives me annoying ad's and contacts the internet and the fire wall won't stop it. If it accidently blocks something I can enter it in an exception list and it will be allowed through. But if it lets through something I think it shouldn't ...too bad. Microsoft obviously believes it's perfect and gives you no way to alter that.
So I decide , well , my ISP gives me a free version of norton , I'll install just the fire wall part and nothing else and see how it goes.
Install went ok, I was able to select the fire wall. Updating the fire wall sucked. Five minutes of waiting with no progress bar or hint anything was happening. No wonder you get a lot of bad installs of norton , people think their computer has crashed and reboot in the middle !
It insisted you turn on Windows updates.
- Sorry. But Billy Boy Gates abused the windows update feature way too much, forcing too much down your throat as an emergancy patch. What exactly is the "emergancy" for forcing everyone onto internet explorer seven ? Do you know how many calls we had for that when they pulled that stunt ? My Windows Updates stays off permanetly thanks.
It lets an unauthorized user update windows.
- Switched to my wifes account. The icon blinked annoyingly at the bottom right and while the "fix now" button wasn't there (she's not an admin) It did let her go to the update page to do whatever harm she could there.
It updated the google search bar with no warnings
- while logged in as a sub user with limited rights no less. I hate the google search bar and didnt' even want it in the first place, let alone let the google gang now run whatever programs they like by "updating" their unwanted search bar whenever they like.
There's no way to turn off the alerts on that annoying icon at the bottom right.
- I know what I'm doing. But it doesn't beleive me. Do things it's way or else. And the "fix now button" doesn't tell you what it does. If anyones logged onto the computer as administrator they just press the button and the blinking goes away , and anything you did that Norton disagree's with ? Now undone. And no warnings. And in the case of windows updates , no way to fix it once it's let billy boy gates hijack your computer and run it his way instead of yours.
I did a search on google for "Norton Removal Tool" and d/l'd it (normally norton demands you pay 75$ on your credit card to give you the url , there's no link to it on their site) and removed it.
I'll run my computer my way , thanks. You don't permit that ? I don't want you.
The windows fire wall has a habit of letting through who it wants , and you have no way to stop that. Thus I download "coffee cup FTP" and it gives me annoying ad's and contacts the internet and the fire wall won't stop it. If it accidently blocks something I can enter it in an exception list and it will be allowed through. But if it lets through something I think it shouldn't ...too bad. Microsoft obviously believes it's perfect and gives you no way to alter that.
So I decide , well , my ISP gives me a free version of norton , I'll install just the fire wall part and nothing else and see how it goes.
Install went ok, I was able to select the fire wall. Updating the fire wall sucked. Five minutes of waiting with no progress bar or hint anything was happening. No wonder you get a lot of bad installs of norton , people think their computer has crashed and reboot in the middle !
It insisted you turn on Windows updates.
- Sorry. But Billy Boy Gates abused the windows update feature way too much, forcing too much down your throat as an emergancy patch. What exactly is the "emergancy" for forcing everyone onto internet explorer seven ? Do you know how many calls we had for that when they pulled that stunt ? My Windows Updates stays off permanetly thanks.
It lets an unauthorized user update windows.
- Switched to my wifes account. The icon blinked annoyingly at the bottom right and while the "fix now" button wasn't there (she's not an admin) It did let her go to the update page to do whatever harm she could there.
It updated the google search bar with no warnings
- while logged in as a sub user with limited rights no less. I hate the google search bar and didnt' even want it in the first place, let alone let the google gang now run whatever programs they like by "updating" their unwanted search bar whenever they like.
There's no way to turn off the alerts on that annoying icon at the bottom right.
- I know what I'm doing. But it doesn't beleive me. Do things it's way or else. And the "fix now button" doesn't tell you what it does. If anyones logged onto the computer as administrator they just press the button and the blinking goes away , and anything you did that Norton disagree's with ? Now undone. And no warnings. And in the case of windows updates , no way to fix it once it's let billy boy gates hijack your computer and run it his way instead of yours.
I did a search on google for "Norton Removal Tool" and d/l'd it (normally norton demands you pay 75$ on your credit card to give you the url , there's no link to it on their site) and removed it.
I'll run my computer my way , thanks. You don't permit that ? I don't want you.
You can't fool them all the time
Venezuela Launches Sale of "Bolivarian" Computers
Mérida, June 12, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— The Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez announced the launch of their "Bolivarian Computers" last week, consisting of four different models produced in Venezuela with Chinese technology. The new computers will run the open-source Linux operating system and will first be used inside the government "missions" and state companies and institutions but eventually are expected to be sold across Venezuela and Latin America.
You can only tell people so many times that yes , Windows is a magnet for virii and other malware , before they decide to stop buying windows computers.
You can only put a copy of norton on a computer , for free , once , and then have it lock the computer for not upgrading to a paid license , call norton and have your credit card ready thats 75$ US for this call , to uninstall their "free free free how can you say no to free !" software that you didn't even want in the first place.
You can only have people pay for a fire wall once, and then have their children bypass it and download malware anyways , and wreck the computer, before they decide a windows machine is too expensive for them.
People will only cart a machine to the computer tech once, take it home , and have their daughter instantly infect it again five minutes after it's been plugged in , before they decide to just let the thing die and not replace it.
You only get to flaunt the rules of standing western governments once (maybe twice) before they decide to find an alternative to your product.
You only get to charge double or triple what that old clunker is worth, once , for an operating system that won't even run on it , and you stopped selling older versions that do run on it , before they start looking around for alternative operating systems.
When you muscle people out of the market , and decide they're not allowed to buy your product except at ruinous prices because you've decided you want to sink their businesses... they will look for an alternative.
You can only load up a computer with crap ware and turn it into your personal aggressive , even down right hostile , salesman , and then sell it to them , once ... before they decide never ever to deal with you again.
Microsoft has spent decades positioning itself to dominate everything , and is now enjoying the payoff. But the payoff does not go on forever, it only goes on until people shift over to something else. It only goes on until they realize they can build something from scratch that does the job they need done for a heck of a lot cheaper than Microsoft is strangling you for.
And then microsoft goes belly up. Because it is no longer trusted. Because no matter what it does from now on , it has made it's bed and now it must lie in it.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
This is a mugging.. Gimme da money !
Sask. will sue over equalization: Calvert
Ok. The Canadian Taxpayer gets about 2500$ more or less from the government , in terms of hospitals, roads, law inforcement , all the infrastructure stuff, if you add it all up and divide by the number of people in a particular province.
Except that it turns out Ontario and Quebec get more than that , because they're fairly affluent , rich provences. And Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia spend considerably less than that , because they're poor and have little source of income.
In order to balance this out , the federal government decided it would take some money from the rich provinces and give it to the poor , and everyone would get about the same level of hospitals and police and roads and schools and other infrastructure stuff.
Ding ! Oil discovered in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. Suddenly they're rich and have more money than Ontario and Quebec.
So the federal government decides they dont' need the equalization payments anymore. Because it's not equil , you're now taking money from provinces that have less than you (ontario and quebec) and giving to provinces that have more (Nova Scotia and Saskatchwan)
Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan's response ?
YOU CAN'T DO THAT WE'RE GONNA SUE YOU PROMISED BLAH BLAH BLAH ...
This is amugging. Gimme the money. We don't care that we're now richer than you. Pay up. Or else !
The Saskatchewan government will also argue the constitutional principle that natural resources belong to the people of Saskatchewan and the current equalization program violates that principle.
THAT OIL IS OURS ! YOU CAN'T TOUCH IT ! WE SHOULD COUNT AS BEING POOR BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO INCLUDE IT IN OUR INCOME !
Huh ? If I told the feds I was working under the table for 20k a year I don't think they'd buy the argument that that money is mine and they can't touch it.
There is another interesting point in this debate. And that is the role of bloggers.
If you examine the news articles on this matter, most of them make the federal government out to be bandits who are ripping off Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan some how. Only when some blogger digs deeper into the issue and figures out whats really going on do you realize it is in fact the reverse.
So the "proffessional Journalist" , although he's not technically lying , is leaving you with an impressino that he knows to be false, and the blogger is giving you the real low down on the situation.
And there are lots of proffesionals out there calling us bloggers amatures and we are a bane to the existance of the internet etc etc.
Let me respond to that accusation.
"Proffesional Paid Journalists" are highly slanted, have to be careful of who's toes they step on (or they get fired) and often get political views handed down from high for them to write on , and the old "do as your paid to do or I fire you " now kicks into place.
Bloggers have no such influences over them.
No where is this "proffesionalism" more obvious than in the string of articles about these equalization payments on the cbc.ca news site. I must put it to you that "professional paid journalists" cannot escape a slanted point of view, they must always be mindful of where the money is coming from to pay the rent , lest it be cut off. Yes I know, every editor in the world denies this. But the results speak otherwise. And it is the editors giving these journalists their marching orders.
Ok. The Canadian Taxpayer gets about 2500$ more or less from the government , in terms of hospitals, roads, law inforcement , all the infrastructure stuff, if you add it all up and divide by the number of people in a particular province.
Except that it turns out Ontario and Quebec get more than that , because they're fairly affluent , rich provences. And Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia spend considerably less than that , because they're poor and have little source of income.
In order to balance this out , the federal government decided it would take some money from the rich provinces and give it to the poor , and everyone would get about the same level of hospitals and police and roads and schools and other infrastructure stuff.
Ding ! Oil discovered in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. Suddenly they're rich and have more money than Ontario and Quebec.
So the federal government decides they dont' need the equalization payments anymore. Because it's not equil , you're now taking money from provinces that have less than you (ontario and quebec) and giving to provinces that have more (Nova Scotia and Saskatchwan)
Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan's response ?
YOU CAN'T DO THAT WE'RE GONNA SUE YOU PROMISED BLAH BLAH BLAH ...
This is amugging. Gimme the money. We don't care that we're now richer than you. Pay up. Or else !
The Saskatchewan government will also argue the constitutional principle that natural resources belong to the people of Saskatchewan and the current equalization program violates that principle.
THAT OIL IS OURS ! YOU CAN'T TOUCH IT ! WE SHOULD COUNT AS BEING POOR BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO INCLUDE IT IN OUR INCOME !
Huh ? If I told the feds I was working under the table for 20k a year I don't think they'd buy the argument that that money is mine and they can't touch it.
There is another interesting point in this debate. And that is the role of bloggers.
If you examine the news articles on this matter, most of them make the federal government out to be bandits who are ripping off Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan some how. Only when some blogger digs deeper into the issue and figures out whats really going on do you realize it is in fact the reverse.
So the "proffessional Journalist" , although he's not technically lying , is leaving you with an impressino that he knows to be false, and the blogger is giving you the real low down on the situation.
And there are lots of proffesionals out there calling us bloggers amatures and we are a bane to the existance of the internet etc etc.
Let me respond to that accusation.
"Proffesional Paid Journalists" are highly slanted, have to be careful of who's toes they step on (or they get fired) and often get political views handed down from high for them to write on , and the old "do as your paid to do or I fire you " now kicks into place.
Bloggers have no such influences over them.
No where is this "proffesionalism" more obvious than in the string of articles about these equalization payments on the cbc.ca news site. I must put it to you that "professional paid journalists" cannot escape a slanted point of view, they must always be mindful of where the money is coming from to pay the rent , lest it be cut off. Yes I know, every editor in the world denies this. But the results speak otherwise. And it is the editors giving these journalists their marching orders.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Dell's Ubuntu's
Article
Ha ha . Have I got news for you !
The base price for the E520n and E1505n notebook is $599 while the base price for the XPS 410n is $849. When you compare the prices to comparable systems running Windows Vista Home Premium, the difference in price is $50. But dig a little deeper and that $50 doesn’t seem like much at all, considering what you get
$50 + near immunity to malware + no pre-installed crap-ware + no norton anti-v shutting down your internet connection because you didn't buy it's 30 day free trial. A machine that just works, and doesn't catch malware, and saves you 50$. Anyone who's bought a computer in the last few years and been burned by that junk will probably love it.
How many times do I get a call from someone with no internet connection , to find they uninstalled norton and it locked down their connection , basically spitting on them for not buying their "free free free ! It's free ! How can you say no to free ! " 30 day trial version.
How long did I slave over my machine to remove mcaffery instead of pay them for their non-free tech support call to get rid of it from my machine ?
How often do I get calls from AOL users complaining about their AOL software , and all I do is walk them through uninstalling it and suddenly their computer works fine ?
How many times to I have to walk people through downloading and installing fire fox with a clumsy , barely operational bloated and spyware riddled internet explorer , and have them exclaim "wow..this is as fast as the internet was when I first got the service !" before they learn ?
How many times to I have to hear "My windows crashed" and then count the days that my Linux / Ubuntu box has been running with no crashes (16 as of this moment ..still playing the tunes ! Still running !, oh and I'm making this blog entry on it )
How many times do they ask me how do get rid of all those annoying icon's on their desk top , the free this and that that really isn't so free, and I think about my Ubuntu machine that when I first installed it had like zero such icon's on it. And now has only those icon's I chose to add.
How many times do I hear about "STOP ! Your machine has been infected ! Go to this web site to purchase a registry cleaner for safer operatioh, have your credit card ready !" and have to explain a)You're not infected, that's the Windows Messanger Service some spammer hijacked, it's actually part of windows , and b) don't buy that junk. it's actually mal-ware that *WILL* infect your computer , not to mention take your money and run.
And then recall that that can't happen on Ubuntu.
You save a heck of a lot more money than 50$ when you switch to linux. You just don't see it all in one pile , thats all.
Why the Dell/Ubuntu Deal Won't Improve Linux's Market Share
Ha ha . Have I got news for you !
The base price for the E520n and E1505n notebook is $599 while the base price for the XPS 410n is $849. When you compare the prices to comparable systems running Windows Vista Home Premium, the difference in price is $50. But dig a little deeper and that $50 doesn’t seem like much at all, considering what you get
$50 + near immunity to malware + no pre-installed crap-ware + no norton anti-v shutting down your internet connection because you didn't buy it's 30 day free trial. A machine that just works, and doesn't catch malware, and saves you 50$. Anyone who's bought a computer in the last few years and been burned by that junk will probably love it.
How many times do I get a call from someone with no internet connection , to find they uninstalled norton and it locked down their connection , basically spitting on them for not buying their "free free free ! It's free ! How can you say no to free ! " 30 day trial version.
How long did I slave over my machine to remove mcaffery instead of pay them for their non-free tech support call to get rid of it from my machine ?
How often do I get calls from AOL users complaining about their AOL software , and all I do is walk them through uninstalling it and suddenly their computer works fine ?
How many times to I have to walk people through downloading and installing fire fox with a clumsy , barely operational bloated and spyware riddled internet explorer , and have them exclaim "wow..this is as fast as the internet was when I first got the service !" before they learn ?
How many times to I have to hear "My windows crashed" and then count the days that my Linux / Ubuntu box has been running with no crashes (16 as of this moment ..still playing the tunes ! Still running !, oh and I'm making this blog entry on it )
How many times do they ask me how do get rid of all those annoying icon's on their desk top , the free this and that that really isn't so free, and I think about my Ubuntu machine that when I first installed it had like zero such icon's on it. And now has only those icon's I chose to add.
How many times do I hear about "STOP ! Your machine has been infected ! Go to this web site to purchase a registry cleaner for safer operatioh, have your credit card ready !" and have to explain a)You're not infected, that's the Windows Messanger Service some spammer hijacked, it's actually part of windows , and b) don't buy that junk. it's actually mal-ware that *WILL* infect your computer , not to mention take your money and run.
And then recall that that can't happen on Ubuntu.
You save a heck of a lot more money than 50$ when you switch to linux. You just don't see it all in one pile , thats all.
Another Browser
Article
Apple's surprise announcement of a Windows version of Safari has led to inevitable questions about its motives in reigniting the browser war.
Don't care. More competition = better for consumers.
Anyone downloading the free browser can choose to have it bundled with Apple's video software QuickTime or its Bonjour service, which is designed to make home networking simpler.
"Potentially Apple could be using it as a distribution channel for new software," said Mr Fogg.
There is also a potential revenue stream coming to Apple from having a wider Safari user-base.
Safari, in common with other browsers, earns money for Apple every time a user searches Google via the integrated search button on the browser's toolbar.
Google pays a share of ad revenue to Apple. According to one report, Firefox's developer the Mozilla Foundation earned over $50m in search engine ad revenue in 2005, mostly from Google.
Didn't cost me a dime . Don't care again !
"I don't see it as a betrayal of all things Mac. Windows users are desperate for Apple to provide some decent software," he said.
Up until now, Safari has captured just 5% of the browser market, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer accounts for 78%, and rival Firefox 15%.
Obviously some people do or you wouldn't be saying that. But I'm not a big mac fan so I don't much care. I think it's a good thing.
78+15+5=98 ...wonder what the other 2% of the browsers are ?
Oh , there was a different article ( I don't have the link) that basically piddled all over Safari and said it sucked. Well...still don't care. Next version of Safari will be improved to compete , or it will roll over and die. Either way , we the consumer win.
Apple's surprise announcement of a Windows version of Safari has led to inevitable questions about its motives in reigniting the browser war.
Don't care. More competition = better for consumers.
Anyone downloading the free browser can choose to have it bundled with Apple's video software QuickTime or its Bonjour service, which is designed to make home networking simpler.
"Potentially Apple could be using it as a distribution channel for new software," said Mr Fogg.
There is also a potential revenue stream coming to Apple from having a wider Safari user-base.
Safari, in common with other browsers, earns money for Apple every time a user searches Google via the integrated search button on the browser's toolbar.
Google pays a share of ad revenue to Apple. According to one report, Firefox's developer the Mozilla Foundation earned over $50m in search engine ad revenue in 2005, mostly from Google.
Didn't cost me a dime . Don't care again !
"I don't see it as a betrayal of all things Mac. Windows users are desperate for Apple to provide some decent software," he said.
Up until now, Safari has captured just 5% of the browser market, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer accounts for 78%, and rival Firefox 15%.
Obviously some people do or you wouldn't be saying that. But I'm not a big mac fan so I don't much care. I think it's a good thing.
78+15+5=98 ...wonder what the other 2% of the browsers are ?
Oh , there was a different article ( I don't have the link) that basically piddled all over Safari and said it sucked. Well...still don't care. Next version of Safari will be improved to compete , or it will roll over and die. Either way , we the consumer win.
No , you can't read the news article, only the ad
Article
Click on the link above and take at look at the news article. Expspecially if you're on Fire Fox.
What do you see ?
A big honking AT&T ad. It doesn't go away. It doesn't have a close button. It covers half the news article I'm trying to read. You click on it and it nicely pops up a survey. But the ad still doesn't close.
Apparently , we have reached the point where suffering through reading the ad's no longer gets you to the news article in question. Now, you are simply tricked into coming to the page and denied access to the news article completely.
This is a new low for advertising. Soon I will start building a black list of sites never to go to because they pull such stunts, and so it's pointless. I'm not going to get to read the article anyways , am I ?
(edit)
It was the wired news site on my home page. I tried a different article from the same site. Same flipping ad covering most of the next and not going away. Removed the wired site from my home page. I suppose I could whine and threaten , but they never listen to us little guys anyways. I'll live with a simple "it wastes my time and doesn't let me read the articles anyways" .
(edit2)
Switched to my windows xp box and internet explorer 7.
It's even more annoying , it runs a full movie , pops up a window to the survey when you click on it , and STILL won't close ! .
I actually got of light being on fire fox. Windows users really get the shaft on this deal.
Click on the link above and take at look at the news article. Expspecially if you're on Fire Fox.
What do you see ?
A big honking AT&T ad. It doesn't go away. It doesn't have a close button. It covers half the news article I'm trying to read. You click on it and it nicely pops up a survey. But the ad still doesn't close.
Apparently , we have reached the point where suffering through reading the ad's no longer gets you to the news article in question. Now, you are simply tricked into coming to the page and denied access to the news article completely.
This is a new low for advertising. Soon I will start building a black list of sites never to go to because they pull such stunts, and so it's pointless. I'm not going to get to read the article anyways , am I ?
(edit)
It was the wired news site on my home page. I tried a different article from the same site. Same flipping ad covering most of the next and not going away. Removed the wired site from my home page. I suppose I could whine and threaten , but they never listen to us little guys anyways. I'll live with a simple "it wastes my time and doesn't let me read the articles anyways" .
(edit2)
Switched to my windows xp box and internet explorer 7.
It's even more annoying , it runs a full movie , pops up a window to the survey when you click on it , and STILL won't close ! .
I actually got of light being on fire fox. Windows users really get the shaft on this deal.
Monday, June 11, 2007
OpenOffice Worm Hits Mac, Linux and Windows
Article
"Malware targeting OpenOffice documents is spreading through multiple operating systems including Mac OS, Windows and Linux, according to Symantec.
"According to the Symantec Security Response website, the worm is capable of infecting multiple operating system platforms and is spreading..."
Congradulations to the Developers of OpenOffice on their decision to copy Visual Basic (ie: rip it off from microsoft) so as to give people the same look and feel as Microsoft Office, one of the worlds most macro-virus prone office products. I'm sure that decision is looking VERY pretty right now.
*peels of echoing laughter*
Sincerely : An Abiword / Gnumeric user.
:)
"Malware targeting OpenOffice documents is spreading through multiple operating systems including Mac OS, Windows and Linux, according to Symantec.
"According to the Symantec Security Response website, the worm is capable of infecting multiple operating system platforms and is spreading..."
Congradulations to the Developers of OpenOffice on their decision to copy Visual Basic (ie: rip it off from microsoft) so as to give people the same look and feel as Microsoft Office, one of the worlds most macro-virus prone office products. I'm sure that decision is looking VERY pretty right now.
*peels of echoing laughter*
Sincerely : An Abiword / Gnumeric user.
:)
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Amnesty International : A Terrorists Best Friend
Article
The latest revelation could boost a legal challenge by Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which have applied to Federal Court for an injunction to halt the transfers.
They argue that Canada could find itself complicit in torture if it knowingly hands prisoners over to authorities who will abuse them.
Ok ok. So you pick these people up on the battle field , they've been shooting at you , they probably still have the guns in their hands. And theyve been coached to claim "ABUSE ABUSE ! " if they get captured.
And they have been terrorizing the local population (read that "randomly killing civilians and generally going on a murderous rampage").
And what does Amnesty International have to say about this ?
Give them some cookies and milk and send them home.
And what about the people they killed ?
Too bad. Amnesty for the living. The dead are gone.
And the soldiers they attacked ?
Soldiers are evil and deserve it.
But they themselves are soldiers !
Amnesty International makes no sense, unless you really think about it.
Then you realize they're providing material support to every criminal and terrorist in the world. We should be arresting these jokers and throwing them in the slammer, not pandering to them.
The latest revelation could boost a legal challenge by Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which have applied to Federal Court for an injunction to halt the transfers.
They argue that Canada could find itself complicit in torture if it knowingly hands prisoners over to authorities who will abuse them.
Ok ok. So you pick these people up on the battle field , they've been shooting at you , they probably still have the guns in their hands. And theyve been coached to claim "ABUSE ABUSE ! " if they get captured.
And they have been terrorizing the local population (read that "randomly killing civilians and generally going on a murderous rampage").
And what does Amnesty International have to say about this ?
Give them some cookies and milk and send them home.
And what about the people they killed ?
Too bad. Amnesty for the living. The dead are gone.
And the soldiers they attacked ?
Soldiers are evil and deserve it.
But they themselves are soldiers !
Amnesty International makes no sense, unless you really think about it.
Then you realize they're providing material support to every criminal and terrorist in the world. We should be arresting these jokers and throwing them in the slammer, not pandering to them.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Guest Computer
Work had a sale on old computers. Pentium III , 256m ram , 10g hard drive. Only 40$ not a bad deal.
No keyboard monitor or mouse, but have an old computer at home that's junk , I can get them off of it.
Get it home (add 10$ for a taxi ) set it up. Won't boot.
Reformat into Ubuntu. Hangs on partitioning. I hate that.
Reformat into Win2000 , I have an old disk. Reformats, hangs at 14%.
Aha. The hard drive is toast. Figures. Work runs these things 24/7 for years, hard drive is usualy the first thing to go when you do that.
It's now got a wireless nic card I bought and a cd rom I looted from another computer (yeah , it didn't have a cd rom either) but no hard drive. I'm looking around.
I'll get this thing running sooner or later , I swear. And under Ubuntu ,not windows.
I swear I'm not putting a "guest" computer in my living room on windows, where every fool can download junk and get it infected at the drop of a hat. IT's gonna be Ubuntu all the way.
No keyboard monitor or mouse, but have an old computer at home that's junk , I can get them off of it.
Get it home (add 10$ for a taxi ) set it up. Won't boot.
Reformat into Ubuntu. Hangs on partitioning. I hate that.
Reformat into Win2000 , I have an old disk. Reformats, hangs at 14%.
Aha. The hard drive is toast. Figures. Work runs these things 24/7 for years, hard drive is usualy the first thing to go when you do that.
It's now got a wireless nic card I bought and a cd rom I looted from another computer (yeah , it didn't have a cd rom either) but no hard drive. I'm looking around.
I'll get this thing running sooner or later , I swear. And under Ubuntu ,not windows.
I swear I'm not putting a "guest" computer in my living room on windows, where every fool can download junk and get it infected at the drop of a hat. IT's gonna be Ubuntu all the way.
Gitmo Prisoners
So... what do we do about all those prisoners in Guantanamo ?
They were caught on the battle field , shooting at our soldiers. Maybe even successfully killing a few.
The nations they come from , like Australia and Canada , pretty much are on the other side of the battle , not just denying involvement but actually providing troops for the opposite side of the war. They certainly don't approve of these people's actions.
In fact no one agree's with their actions. No nation that is , just a religious organization. So what do we do ?
Well...if the relgion is backing them , perhaps we could declare the religion itself an enemey ?
Not gonna work. Can't declare a religion of two billion people (Islam) public enemy number one, sorry.
So the only possible (legal) conclusion is that they are "strays". Terrorists and private individuals with a grudge or ideological convictions.
And what do you do with such strays ? You turn them over to the authorities of the government they were trying to over throw. Even if you know it means they get executed. Give me a break , they were shooting at you !
But the bleeding hearts club seems to think we can't do that (to murderer's caught in the act , red handed) they might get their feelings hurt or something. The bleeding hearts thing these people should be sent home to bed and given some milk and cookies, and we'll just forget about the soldiers and private citizens they murdered in some foriegn land far away.
Can't do that either.
Bush's problem is he's trying to please too many people. He's trying to set up a world court to try these people, and that world court is going to come back and sting him (or at least sting the USA) one day in the future. Just like the Nuremburg trials for the Nazi war crimes routinely does.
He should give it up as a bad job and just turn these prisoners over to the iraqi's and afghans and let them be executed. The kangaroo court he's trying to set up is gonna be nothing but trouble.
They were caught on the battle field , shooting at our soldiers. Maybe even successfully killing a few.
The nations they come from , like Australia and Canada , pretty much are on the other side of the battle , not just denying involvement but actually providing troops for the opposite side of the war. They certainly don't approve of these people's actions.
In fact no one agree's with their actions. No nation that is , just a religious organization. So what do we do ?
Well...if the relgion is backing them , perhaps we could declare the religion itself an enemey ?
Not gonna work. Can't declare a religion of two billion people (Islam) public enemy number one, sorry.
So the only possible (legal) conclusion is that they are "strays". Terrorists and private individuals with a grudge or ideological convictions.
And what do you do with such strays ? You turn them over to the authorities of the government they were trying to over throw. Even if you know it means they get executed. Give me a break , they were shooting at you !
But the bleeding hearts club seems to think we can't do that (to murderer's caught in the act , red handed) they might get their feelings hurt or something. The bleeding hearts thing these people should be sent home to bed and given some milk and cookies, and we'll just forget about the soldiers and private citizens they murdered in some foriegn land far away.
Can't do that either.
Bush's problem is he's trying to please too many people. He's trying to set up a world court to try these people, and that world court is going to come back and sting him (or at least sting the USA) one day in the future. Just like the Nuremburg trials for the Nazi war crimes routinely does.
He should give it up as a bad job and just turn these prisoners over to the iraqi's and afghans and let them be executed. The kangaroo court he's trying to set up is gonna be nothing but trouble.
A day at the Open Source Business Conference
Article
There was a session, led by Larry Augustin, on "downloads to dollars" - how to start making money once you have people actually downloading your software. Much talk on how to extract information from downloaders which can be used to "open a dialog" with them. When is the proper point to start requiring registration, with a valid email address, to download a software tarball? It was suggested that the source download is really the same thing as the free trial offerings from some proprietary vendors, with the same end: to lead to the "monetization" phase...
Much worry goes into trying to figure out just when it might be permissible to ship proprietary components with free software
Why ?
Why is open source dealing with these people ?
A bunch of private individuals writing code and giving it away for free. Suddenly these companies are stepping in and discussing ways to cash in on work they didn't do. Trying to figure ways around the licensing agreement written up by the legitimate owners. In any other human endeavor that would be considered theft.
Open source is all about giving stuff away to humanity for free.
These guys are all about locking it down , patenting it, and making a buck.
The two do not mix, they have fundimental ideological differences.
I'm having difficulty viewing these "Open Source Companies" as anything except parasites upon the open source community of developers.
There was a session, led by Larry Augustin, on "downloads to dollars" - how to start making money once you have people actually downloading your software. Much talk on how to extract information from downloaders which can be used to "open a dialog" with them. When is the proper point to start requiring registration, with a valid email address, to download a software tarball? It was suggested that the source download is really the same thing as the free trial offerings from some proprietary vendors, with the same end: to lead to the "monetization" phase...
Much worry goes into trying to figure out just when it might be permissible to ship proprietary components with free software
Why ?
Why is open source dealing with these people ?
A bunch of private individuals writing code and giving it away for free. Suddenly these companies are stepping in and discussing ways to cash in on work they didn't do. Trying to figure ways around the licensing agreement written up by the legitimate owners. In any other human endeavor that would be considered theft.
Open source is all about giving stuff away to humanity for free.
These guys are all about locking it down , patenting it, and making a buck.
The two do not mix, they have fundimental ideological differences.
I'm having difficulty viewing these "Open Source Companies" as anything except parasites upon the open source community of developers.
Bush to Seek a Bit of Unity With Putin
On the issue of russia threatening nukes.
Article
If russia is so nuke happy , I think we should cut a deal with them. Since Russia is our ally and Iran is not , the deal should read something along the lines of if Iran lobs even a single missile at europe then russia erases Iran from the map.
Now everyone in the west is happy. Europe has no nukes or anti-nuke ability , and needs none. Anyone throwing a nuke at europe gets stone-aged, and russia can actually get some milage out of their existing nukes against someone who's actually hostile to them.
Every one but Iran is happy , that is. Maybe north korea is a little unhappy as well.
Article
If russia is so nuke happy , I think we should cut a deal with them. Since Russia is our ally and Iran is not , the deal should read something along the lines of if Iran lobs even a single missile at europe then russia erases Iran from the map.
Now everyone in the west is happy. Europe has no nukes or anti-nuke ability , and needs none. Anyone throwing a nuke at europe gets stone-aged, and russia can actually get some milage out of their existing nukes against someone who's actually hostile to them.
Every one but Iran is happy , that is. Maybe north korea is a little unhappy as well.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Jun04 Ubuntu Reboot
Had to do some upgrades and patches to Ubuntu , required a reboot.
May 27 - jun 04 : 9 days ... still beats the tar out of windows :)
May 27 - jun 04 : 9 days ... still beats the tar out of windows :)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
WARNING: Windows Rant Ahead
Article
In spite of all these issues, security experts generally feel that the criminal botnets can be beaten without changing the way we use the internet.
Say it together with me brother.
WINDOWS IS EVIL !
Windows, macs , Linux, who catches virii , who becomes part of the bot net ?
WINDOWS !
Windows , macs , Linux , who gets infected by just openning an email ?
WINDOWS !
Windows , Macs , Linux , who gets infected for just viewing a website , not actually pressing any buttons or knowingly downloading anything ?
WINDOWS !
Windows , Macs , Linux , who gets these annoying pop ups , while you're still installing the system ! Informing you you're registry is corrupt and you should visit this site to fix it have your credit card ready ?
WINDOWS !
I just cleaned my brothers system. Reformat , reinstall , the whole nine yards. First thing he did was get his pretty screen saver from the internet , and suddenly , less than two minutes after cleaning his system, he's infected again. What operating system is he running ?
WINDOWS !
What operating system comes with a FREE !!!! 30 day trial version of an anti-virus program (Norton) and when the 30 days runs out it locks your system out of the internet ,and cannot be uninstalled without phoning Norton , who wants $75 per call have your credit card ready please.
WINDOWS !
What operating system comes pre-loaded with a thousand pieces of 30 day trial software that won't easily uninstall , but some of which will happily trash your system if you don't buy it ?
WINDOWS !
What operating system CANNOT be upgraded, because the upgraded version requires so much more hardware than the current machine that the upgrade will run like the dogs breakfast and make you hate it totally ?
WINDOWS ! (ESPECIALLY THE XP TO VISTA upgrade)
What operating system actually gives you less when you get the latest version , simply because it puts such a heavy load on your system it makes your brand new lightning fast system run slower than your old clunker ?
WINDOWS !
Amen , Brother !
In spite of all these issues, security experts generally feel that the criminal botnets can be beaten without changing the way we use the internet.
Say it together with me brother.
WINDOWS IS EVIL !
Windows, macs , Linux, who catches virii , who becomes part of the bot net ?
WINDOWS !
Windows , macs , Linux , who gets infected by just openning an email ?
WINDOWS !
Windows , Macs , Linux , who gets infected for just viewing a website , not actually pressing any buttons or knowingly downloading anything ?
WINDOWS !
Windows , Macs , Linux , who gets these annoying pop ups , while you're still installing the system ! Informing you you're registry is corrupt and you should visit this site to fix it have your credit card ready ?
WINDOWS !
I just cleaned my brothers system. Reformat , reinstall , the whole nine yards. First thing he did was get his pretty screen saver from the internet , and suddenly , less than two minutes after cleaning his system, he's infected again. What operating system is he running ?
WINDOWS !
What operating system comes with a FREE !!!! 30 day trial version of an anti-virus program (Norton) and when the 30 days runs out it locks your system out of the internet ,and cannot be uninstalled without phoning Norton , who wants $75 per call have your credit card ready please.
WINDOWS !
What operating system comes pre-loaded with a thousand pieces of 30 day trial software that won't easily uninstall , but some of which will happily trash your system if you don't buy it ?
WINDOWS !
What operating system CANNOT be upgraded, because the upgraded version requires so much more hardware than the current machine that the upgrade will run like the dogs breakfast and make you hate it totally ?
WINDOWS ! (ESPECIALLY THE XP TO VISTA upgrade)
What operating system actually gives you less when you get the latest version , simply because it puts such a heavy load on your system it makes your brand new lightning fast system run slower than your old clunker ?
WINDOWS !
Amen , Brother !
My Router
Belkin Router. Model number doesn't really matter the security hole is of my own making, not the routers fault.
I set up my router the way we set up the customers router at work. We use a 64 bit wep key , and the key is the mac address(last 10 digits) of the router, which is written on the back or bottom of the router. Works great , can't lose the key without losing the router, and can't steal the key without physically being in the house. Sounds very secure.
Got a call from a windows vista customer the other day to set up their wireless connection. During the process , it seems that windows vista wireless will tell you the Mac address of what it's trying to connect to. The customer actually read to me the mac and I could see on my screen it was the same as the one for the router I was trying to connect her to.
Oh oh.
Got home, checked the security logs on my router. Yup ! Some bugger (only one so far) was bumming a free ride on my router ! (through the router and into my cable modem and voila ! They have free high speed internet at my expense) They'd figured out to put in the mac id as the security key. I changed it immediately.
My goodness. We have so many customers that use the mac id for their security key ... this is going to be a serious problem when this leaks.
I set up my router the way we set up the customers router at work. We use a 64 bit wep key , and the key is the mac address(last 10 digits) of the router, which is written on the back or bottom of the router. Works great , can't lose the key without losing the router, and can't steal the key without physically being in the house. Sounds very secure.
Got a call from a windows vista customer the other day to set up their wireless connection. During the process , it seems that windows vista wireless will tell you the Mac address of what it's trying to connect to. The customer actually read to me the mac and I could see on my screen it was the same as the one for the router I was trying to connect her to.
Oh oh.
Got home, checked the security logs on my router. Yup ! Some bugger (only one so far) was bumming a free ride on my router ! (through the router and into my cable modem and voila ! They have free high speed internet at my expense) They'd figured out to put in the mac id as the security key. I changed it immediately.
My goodness. We have so many customers that use the mac id for their security key ... this is going to be a serious problem when this leaks.
Online crime
Article
Imagine your home computer and a half-million others being secretly commandeered by criminals who use them remotely to send spam e-mails, spread viruses, steal personal information — even crack the codes at credit card companies and banks.
Sound far-fetched? It's already happening. In the past five years, these so-called "zombie" robot networks — or "botnets" — have become the key to most serious internet crimes.
"It's not uncommon for the bad guys to have 50,000 or 100,000 or even half a million computers under their control,
The internet is one big pool. Thats the problem.
Symantec Internet Security says home users are the target of 86 per cent of internet attacks, largely because they are far less likely than corporate users to have effective security measures
Aha. Can you say "WINDOWS !!!!" ?
Any computer that attaches to the internet should always have up-to-date firewalls and anti-virus software in place, for example.
...says symantec.
Can you say "BUY OUR PRODUCT ! BUY OUR PRODUCT !"
This is the biggest security problem of all, actually. These bot nets are a major issue yes, but no one really is intrested in solving them, they're only intrested in continuing to sell you insecure , over priced operating systems , and third rate fire wall / anti virus suites that do little but take your money , foist all the responsibility onto the customer with these pop ups that read "Do you want to allow this program to run or be downloaded ?" and then when the customer is tricked and ifected anyways "It's all your fault. You said YES to that pop up. Phone a PC tech. Thank you for telling us your woes and thats 75$ US on your credit card for calling Norton/Symantec. Thank you for your business. "
And then we get "writers" who go to the very source of the problem (Windows or Norton or other security companies with a vested interest in NOT solving the problem) and asking them what they think of all of this.
The real online criminals here are Windows / Norton, and ill educated writers who can't be bothered to do their own research. They want to be spoon fed, and the cheif offenders in all of this are happy to do so.
You want REAL advice ? (In no particular order)
Imagine your home computer and a half-million others being secretly commandeered by criminals who use them remotely to send spam e-mails, spread viruses, steal personal information — even crack the codes at credit card companies and banks.
Sound far-fetched? It's already happening. In the past five years, these so-called "zombie" robot networks — or "botnets" — have become the key to most serious internet crimes.
"It's not uncommon for the bad guys to have 50,000 or 100,000 or even half a million computers under their control,
The internet is one big pool. Thats the problem.
Symantec Internet Security says home users are the target of 86 per cent of internet attacks, largely because they are far less likely than corporate users to have effective security measures
Aha. Can you say "WINDOWS !!!!" ?
Any computer that attaches to the internet should always have up-to-date firewalls and anti-virus software in place, for example.
...says symantec.
Can you say "BUY OUR PRODUCT ! BUY OUR PRODUCT !"
This is the biggest security problem of all, actually. These bot nets are a major issue yes, but no one really is intrested in solving them, they're only intrested in continuing to sell you insecure , over priced operating systems , and third rate fire wall / anti virus suites that do little but take your money , foist all the responsibility onto the customer with these pop ups that read "Do you want to allow this program to run or be downloaded ?" and then when the customer is tricked and ifected anyways "It's all your fault. You said YES to that pop up. Phone a PC tech. Thank you for telling us your woes and thats 75$ US on your credit card for calling Norton/Symantec. Thank you for your business. "
And then we get "writers" who go to the very source of the problem (Windows or Norton or other security companies with a vested interest in NOT solving the problem) and asking them what they think of all of this.
The real online criminals here are Windows / Norton, and ill educated writers who can't be bothered to do their own research. They want to be spoon fed, and the cheif offenders in all of this are happy to do so.
You want REAL advice ? (In no particular order)
- Stop using the Internet Explorer. Try getfirefox.com or www.opera.com
- Stop downloading mp3's and movies from illegal sites. Limewire and it's ilk are the cheif source of many infections.
- Those free screen savers advertised on yahoo ? They're not so free. Full of virii. Ditto those free smilie programs and a host of other "free" cuteness.
- Once you get a working version of XP or other windows (WinVista doesn't have a working version yet by the way) turn OFF the windows updates. Let your fire wall and anti-virus operate without any interference from windows, thanks a bunch.
- for real security , get off windows. Linux Ubuntu is free, and the easiest Linux out there. Or there's always a Mac.
- Don't open attachments from friends unless you talked to him and he told you he was sending it. Lots of virii apear to come from your friends, but really , they have no idea such things are being sent in their name.
- Cleaning a computer of a virus is a waste of time. Because cleaning really means "erasing files at random" , *NOT* "remove the virus from the file and then put the newly cleaned file back". Randomly deleting files from your computer causes it do really funky things, and you're probably going to have to reformat afterwards. Skip the cleaning, back up your data , and go straight to the reformat.
- Get a yahoo or gmail account and use that instead. It's free, it's scanned for virii trojens and spam , and those big companies do a heck of a better job of it than your local isp. (unless you do criminal activity , in which case, yes the FBI gets to read your email... )
- *YOU* are responsible for running your computer. The only thing anyone else is responsible for is fleecing you for every dollar they can get from you. Understanding this will make your life amazingly simple.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Don't Do Linux Any More
Article = none, my personal experiance / opinion
I was talking with a co-worker at work the other day , and he explained to me that he didn't have time for Linux. He'd started with Ubuntu , then worked his way through a whole bunch of them and then got up to mandrake, but now he had a wife and kids and didn't have time to fiddle anymore...
???
Ok then.
You're not really supposed to just learn some Linux varient , and then walk away. I agree , that is a waste of time. You're supposed to learn a varient , and then use it for a while, like a year or two , see if it's good for you , things like that. Typical tech attitude. Figured it out , got it working , now I'm abandoning it.
Some people make me laugh.
I'd never abandon ubuntu. That would mean going to WinVista , and I just don't have the cash for that. Maybe in five years, when the hardware prices drop , and WinVista is dying and is dirt cheap, I'll buy a computer just as a game box . But games are the only thing windows does that Linux doesn't. (At least not well) , and thats just not enough, I'm sorry.
Work had a sale yesterday. Old Pentium III's they don't need anymore. $40 bucks. picked one up for myself. It will run ubuntu just fine. Game machine running winvista is 3000$ , mostly due to the minimum hardware requirements thought the price of the operating system doesn't help I'm sure. but 40$ and a few spare parts to put a computer in the living room for guests so they stay out of my rather messy room... how can I pass that up ?
I was talking with a co-worker at work the other day , and he explained to me that he didn't have time for Linux. He'd started with Ubuntu , then worked his way through a whole bunch of them and then got up to mandrake, but now he had a wife and kids and didn't have time to fiddle anymore...
???
Ok then.
You're not really supposed to just learn some Linux varient , and then walk away. I agree , that is a waste of time. You're supposed to learn a varient , and then use it for a while, like a year or two , see if it's good for you , things like that. Typical tech attitude. Figured it out , got it working , now I'm abandoning it.
Some people make me laugh.
I'd never abandon ubuntu. That would mean going to WinVista , and I just don't have the cash for that. Maybe in five years, when the hardware prices drop , and WinVista is dying and is dirt cheap, I'll buy a computer just as a game box . But games are the only thing windows does that Linux doesn't. (At least not well) , and thats just not enough, I'm sorry.
Work had a sale yesterday. Old Pentium III's they don't need anymore. $40 bucks. picked one up for myself. It will run ubuntu just fine. Game machine running winvista is 3000$ , mostly due to the minimum hardware requirements thought the price of the operating system doesn't help I'm sure. but 40$ and a few spare parts to put a computer in the living room for guests so they stay out of my rather messy room... how can I pass that up ?
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