Sunday, December 30, 2007

Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal (Fair) Use

Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use - washingtonpost.com: "The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are 'unauthorized copies' of copyrighted recordings."


This statement is completely contrary to all proceeding rulings that Fair Use included making copies of Music that you legally purchased for personal use or to share with your friends.


As of today, I will no longer purchase any and all music from any and all RIAA affiliated label and/or media company. I will be writing to all my favorite artists telling them good bye.

Friday, December 28, 2007

States to Track Drivers Through Licenses

States to Track Drivers Through Licenses: "States to Track Drivers Through Licenses
A federal program promotes driving license technology that allows the tracking of motorists even when they are not driving.


Electronic monitoring of motorists will soon expand dramatically as states including Arizona, Michigan, Vermont and Washington begin to use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in drivers' licenses. These electronic chips broadcast the identity of any card holder to any chip-reading sensor within a minimum of thirty feet. The US Department of Homeland Security is promoting the tracking projects as part of its Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative."


The National ID initiative continues to prove the "Conspiracy Theorists" and Libertarians correct. This latest DHS implementation is one more step towards Big Brother.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Blogger Forces NASA to Tweak Climate Data [FOX News]

In a little reported event outside of scientific communities was made public by the Fox News Channel in an on air and online report entitled Blogger Forces NASA to Tweak Climate Data.

From the Article:
A NASA research department has admitted that the calculations it used to show an increase in U.S. temperatures were flawed, after a campaign by an amateur meteorologist using his blog.

Climatologists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York have been forced to revise estimates after research by Stephen MacIntyre, who published his findings on his Climate Audit blog.

As a result of his calculations, which he e-mailed to NASA, scientists at the agency now say that 1934, not 1998, was the warmest year in the United States since records began to be kept in 1880.

It's a shame when data is purposefully skewed to reflect agenda instead of Scientific Truth.

I have submitted this story to /.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Thursday, December 06, 2007

House vote on illegal images sweeps in Wi-Fi, Web sites | The Iconoclast - politics, law, and technology - CNET News.com

Ron Paul was one of the only two congressmen to vote against Big Brother.

House vote on illegal images sweeps in Wi-Fi, Web sites | The Iconoclast - politics, law, and technology - CNET News.com: "The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including 'obscene' cartoons and drawings--or face fines of up to $300,000.


"That broad definition would cover individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and even some government agencies that provide Wi-Fi. It also sweeps in social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail, and it may require that the complete contents of the user's account be retained for subsequent police inspection."

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Maryland To Tax Computer Support Services -- Tax -- InformationWeek

It seems the once "Free State" is unhappy about no longer being the State with Highest Taxes per capita in the Union. So to found yet their latest and greatest "Government Knows Best" initiatives the have decided to not only increase their Sales Tax from 5% to 6%; but also to apply to any and all IT/Computer Services including the coast of writing customized software.

When other States are courting the high paying IT industries to their State, Maryland has decided to tax it out of theirs.

Maryland To Tax Computer Support Services -- Tax -- InformationWeek: "The measure increases sales tax by 1% and adds computer support services, data center support, custom programming, consulting, and disaster recovery services to the list. Legislators approved the change as part of a tax package they passed early Monday morning."

Friday, November 16, 2007

Stupid stuff ,,,,

Warner Music Group: We were wrong to go to war with consumers

I have a hard time buying that a big multimedia conglomerate and RIAA member in good standing would inadvertently wage war on consumers.

This statement that all but resembles an apology is just the latest tactic by the greedy to lull the consumer into a false sense security.

MacUser: News: UPDATED: Music boss: we were wrong to go to war with consumers: "We used to fool ourselves," he said. "We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won."

Union Members becoming Fat and Lazy?

If I owned a Construction firm, I would offer the Union workers a meager $8/hour since their Union seems to feel that it is a good enough wage to outsource picketing my firm.

NPR : Union Outsources Picket Lines to the Homeless: Gary Chaison, who teaches industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said renting pickets sends a bad message.

"It's essentially saying that our own members don't have the time, the inclination — or the spirit — to walk picket lines and protect their jobs,' Chaison said. And if actual carpenters don't care enough about companies paying lower wages, Chaison said, why should anyone else?

"I'm trying to imagine what the civil rights movement would have been like if, in fact, they had hired demonstrators to walk down South," Chaison said.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Blog Action Day: Two Environmentalists Anger Their Brethren

This year's Blog Action Day is The Environment

I've longed maligned the Environmental Special interest groups as bunch of tree hugging wackos that are looking more for headline grabbing notoriety than actually addressing any REAL environmental concerns.

Nordhaus and Shellenberger: Two Environmentalists Anger Their Brethren:

Even if every American SUV owner were to buy a hybrid tomorrow, that wouldn't come close to offsetting the environmental damage being perpetrated around the globe. In fact, all the standards, cap-and-trade limits, and emission reductions that environmentalists have been pushing for may slow, but will never reverse, global warming.


And that is Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger's inconvenient truth.

"There is simply no way we can achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions," they write in their introduction, "without creating breakthrough technologies that do not pollute."


Environmentalists, therefore, have missed a huge opportunity. Rather than being leaders in solving the global climate crisis, they are content to be doomsayers and scolds.


Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger first aligned themselves with like minded special interest groups to encourage a serious deep pocket investment of funds in developing alternative fuels. They quickly learned that these other groups had more important agendas.


"Labor groups were interested in protecting existing jobs in the US rather than creating jobs in the new-energy economy," Shellenberger says. "Environmental groups were more concerned with regulatory limits on greenhouse gases and raising fuel-economy standards." They had tried to be strategic by forming a coalition of interest groups, but interest groups were, in fact, the problem.

It is painfully obviously that as long as policy was shaped by special interests — including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club — there would be no policy other than short-term, narrowly focused fixes.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Immigration Raids Lead To Farm Labor Shortage - Bakersfield News Story - KERO Bakersfield

Immigration Raids Lead To Farm Labor Shortage - Bakersfield News Story - KERO Bakersfield: "BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- While harvest season is getting under way for some crops, fewer undocumented farm workers are on the job, fearful of immigration raids and deportation."

For those of you who think that it's a ruse for exploitation of immigrants. They really are filling a void.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

WMFE Public Broadcasting Stations : Audio Reading Service

I drove to Orlando today and this is what I did from 12 noon to 2PM.


WMFE Public Broadcasting Stations : Audio Reading Service: "The WMFE Audio Reading Service (ARS) is a valuable community service that provides news and information from local newspapers to the visually-impaired and print-disabled of the Central Florida region."

Friday, September 21, 2007

With fall nearing, beer lovers celebrate brewing - CNN.com

With fall nearing, beer lovers celebrate brewing - CNN.com: "Finding The Best Brews If brewing your own is a little too much work, but you want to expand your beer horizons, look for recommendations at beeradvocate.com and ratebeer.com, which rank the best beers in the world. Both of these sites are dedicated to all things beer and feature lively online communities of beer aficionados from the world over. "

newsjournalonline.com

newsjournalonline.com: "Paey had served nearly four years on a 25-year sentence after prosecutors convinced a jury that he had forged so many prescriptions and purchased so many pain pills he must have been selling them, despite no additional evidence supporting that claim."


The Jury Selection process needs to be overhauled.

Monday, September 17, 2007

FOXNews.com - China Recalls Tainted Leukemia Drugs - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

China Recalls Tainted Leukemia Drugs - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News:

"China, a major global supplier, has been facing growing international pressure to improve the quality of its exports after dangerous toxins — from lead to an antifreeze ingredient — were found in goods including toys and toothpaste."


Call me one of those "Conspiracy Theory NutCases" donning his tin foil hat, but you have to admit that the evidence continues to mount that China is trying to destroy America by poisoning us slowly but surely.

The Deadbeat Dad Myth � Violent Acres

The Deadbeat Dad Myth | Violent Acres: "Suspiciously, the courts aren’t as harsh if a woman denies her Ex his court ordered visitation. In cases like that, he’s got to scrape together the cash to take her to court to get her wrist slapped by a judge. Fact is, there’s no money in ensuring a Father access to his kids which is why the court only gets involved when you pay them to."

My nephew in-law pays through the nose for a child he never sees. The EX keeps disappearing.

The courts tell him, "Oh well, too bad!"

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Shuttleworth: Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community

Shuttleworth: Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community: "'That's extortion and we should call it what it is,' he said. 'To say, as [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet liability, that's just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that game."

Man must pay alimony to wife despite her domestic partnership - CNN.com

We want to be considered married to get all the rights that come with marriage but still get all the perks of single life.

It's not about equal rights anymore for special interest groups, its about preferential treatment!!


Man must pay alimony to wife despite her domestic partnership - CNN.com

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

SSRN-"I've Got Nothing to Hide" and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy by Daniel Solove

It's not a question of whether I have something to hide or not, it's a question of whether the Government has just cause to look. If they do, they can convince a judge and obtain a warrant. It they don't, they need to keep their noses out of my personal business.

SSRN-"I've Got Nothing to Hide" and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy by Daniel Solove

Friday, June 29, 2007

Google Maps Mania: Driving Directions get even better on Google Maps!

Google Maps Mania: Driving Directions get even better on Google Maps!: "The Google Maps Team have added a pretty nifty new feature to Google Maps. Here to tell you about 'Draggable Driving Directions' are Jess and Evan, from the Google Maps team (YouTube link):"

Saturday, June 23, 2007

U.S. troops intensify fighting

The troop surge struggles forward in a manner reminiscent of clearing Nazis out of Paris and chasing the Viet Cong through tunnels while destroying whole villages.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/23/2007: "Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, assistant commander for operations with the 25th Infantry Division, estimated that several hundred low-level al-Qaeda fighters remained in the city.

'They're clearly in hiding, no question about it. But they're a hard-line group of fighters who have no intention of leaving, and they want to kill as many coalition and Iraqi security forces as they possibly can,' Bednarek said yesterday.

'It's 24-7 for us here, and it's probably the same for our adversary as well,' he said. 'It's house to house, block to block, street to street, sewer to sewer - and it's also cars, vans - we're searching every one of them.'"

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Duke, ex-lacrosse players reach settlement - CNN.com

Would be scapegoats of a political aspiring DA out to make a name for himself at the expense of others are duly compensated; the DA, disbarred!

Duke, ex-lacrosse players reach settlement - CNN.com

Saturday, June 16, 2007

A rift emerges over U.S. policy toward Iran - International Herald Tribune

I am really beginning to fear that we are heading towards WW III.

A rift emerges over U.S. policy toward Iran - International Herald Tribune: "The debate has pitted Rice and her deputies against the few remaining hawks inside the administration, especially those in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney who, by some accounts, are pressing for greater consideration of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities."

Also from the Article: "Even beyond its nuclear program, Iran is emerging as an increasing source of trouble for the Bush administration by inflaming the insurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and in Gaza, where it has provided military and financial support to the militant Islamic group Hamas, which now controls the coastal strip."

With the American forces engaged with the Taliban in Southern Afghanistan, will we be invading our ally Pakistan in an attempts to end the tribal harboring of the enemy?

With Iran's alleged funding and arming of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and various insurgency groups in Iraq, will the US begin some type of aerial assault on Nuclear enrichment facilities, weapons plants, the Capitol or wholesale on Iraqi people themselves.

The Wild West "Shoot 'em dead" mentality of the Bush Administration makes the worst case scenarios more realistically probable than any American Citizen will admit to themselves.

Memo

Friday, June 15, 2007

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Friday, March 23, 2007

Teatro Triste del Clown

Catch me at: Teatro Triste del Clown!! Ipromise to write more often