Archive for August, 2009

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Diana dies in Paris at age 36 …

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Diana, Princess of Wales, died after a car crash in Paris twelve years ago today.

After being transported to a Paris hospital early that Sunday morning surgeons tried unsuccessfully for two hours to save her — but she died at 0300 BST.

Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying the Queen and the Prince of Wales were “deeply shocked and distressed”.

Prince Charles told Princes William and Harry of their mother’s death at Balmoral Castle in Scotland where the royal family had been spending the summer.

The accident happened shortly after the princess left the Ritz Hotel in the French capital with her companion, Dodi Al Fayed – son of Harrods owner, Mohammed Al Fayed.

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Seeing the Forest … Despite the Trees !

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Microsoft 7 Sins Site

Last week a web site was launched by The Free Software Foundation (FSF) in an attempt to educate the users of the world regarding Windows 7 and the thrust of Microsoft Technology in general entitled

Windows 7 Sins:
The case against Microsoft and proprietary software

making reference to it as “treacherous computing” that eliminates user rights via stealth.

The site, windows7sins.org, lists seven examples of abuse committed by Microsoft from the perspective of The Free Software Foundation — and other proponents of ‘open source’ such as myself:

  1. Poisoning education: Today, most children whose education involves computers are being taught to use one company’s product: Microsoft’s. Microsoft spends large sums on lobbyists and marketing to corrupt educational departments. An education using the power of computers should be a means to freedom and empowerment, not an avenue for one corporation to instill its monopoly.
  2. Invading privacy: Microsoft uses software with backward names like Windows Genuine Advantage to inspect the contents of users’ hard drives. The licensing agreement users are required to accept before using Windows warns that Microsoft claims the right to do this without warning.
  3. Monopoly behavior: Nearly every computer purchased has Windows pre-installed — but not by choice. Microsoft dictates requirements to hardware vendors, who will not offer PCs without Windows installed on them, despite many people asking for them. Even computers available with other operating systems like GNU/Linux pre-installed often had Windows on them first.
  4. Lock-in: Microsoft regularly attempts to force updates on its users, by removing support for older versions of Windows and Office, and by inflating hardware requirements. For many people, this means having to throw away working computers just because they don’t meet the unnecessary requirements for the new Windows versions.
  5. Abusing standards: Microsoft has attempted to block free standardization of document formats, because standards like OpenDocument Format would threaten the control they have now over users via proprietary Word formats. They have engaged in underhanded behavior, including bribing officials, in an attempt to stop such efforts.
  6. Enforcing Digital Restrictions Management (DRM): With Windows Media Player, Microsoft works in collusion with the big media companies to build restrictions on copying and playing media into their operating system. For example, at the request of NBC, Microsoft was able to prevent Windows users from recording television shows that they have the legal right to record.
  7. Threatening user security: Windows has a long history of security vulnerabilities, enabling the spread of viruses and allowing remote users to take over people’s computers for use in spam-sending botnets. Because the software is secret, all users are dependent on Microsoft to fix these problems — but Microsoft has its own security interests at heart, not those of its users.

You can help!

Free software operating systems like GNU/Linux can do the same jobs as Windows, but they encourage users to share, modify, and study the software as much as they want. This makes using a free software operating system the best way for users to escape Microsoft and avoid becoming victims of these seven sins. Software and computers will always have problems, but by using free software, users and their communities are empowered to fix problems for themselves and each other.

windows7sins.org
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

They are soliciting contributions to continue their letter writing campaign.

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Regarding Notebook Searches at Border Crossings

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

The Department of Homeland Security Reiterates

A most interesting and thought provoking article by Thomas Claburn appeared on the Information Week site yesterday.

It seems that we have the potential to become detained if we cross a border into the United States with a notebook or other electronic device and fail to provide passwords and/or encryption keys for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) to search these devices.

The question remains whether we may be compelled to provide those encryption keys or passwords legally.

Last February the United States Supreme Court declined to reconsider the ruling of an appeals court which declared notebooks to be of the same character as any other piece of luggage and subject to search without reason or suspicion in the case United States v. Ickes where the criminal defendant claimed that searches of the contents of their laptops violate their First Amendment freedom of expression and that searches of the files on their electronic devices are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment because they are a substantial intrusion into travelers’ privacy and dignity interests.

“The border search doctrine is justified by the longstanding right of the sovereign to protect itself. Particularly in today’s world, national security interests may require uncovering terrorist communications, which are inherently “expressive.” Following Ickes’s logic would create a sanctuary at the border for all expressive material-even for terrorist plans. This would undermine the compelling reasons that lie at the very heart of the border search doctrine.”
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
United States v. Ickes

Naturally, privacy groups and business travelers are alarmed at this notion

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) claim that the government’s right to seize, copy, and store information on electronic devices undermines the ability of businesses to protect confidential information and establishes an end-run around Fourth Amendment protection. They argue that the contents of an electronic device are particularly personal and that such devices shouldn’t be governed by the rules for suitcases.
Thomas Claburn
Information Week
DHS Clarifies Laptop Border Searches
08/28/09

The border search exception is a doctrine of United States criminal law that exempts searches of travelers and their property from the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement.

At the border CBP officers are authorized to search all travelers’ closed containers without any level of suspicion. Authority extends to all physical containers, regardless of size or the possible presence of personal, confidential or embarrassing materials. This authority allows Customs to open and search incoming international mail. Notebooks and other personal electronics simply don’t stand a chance under this criteria.

So this is actually one of those ‘selling points’ for cloud computing. You want to cross a border with your personal computer in tow. Keep your data on a server in the cloud. Access it across the web. Show the Feds your PC. Everybody’s happy … well everybody may not be ‘happy’ but at least nobody has to get detained !

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My Local Hess Station BADLY Needs Responsible Management …

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Why is it that taking a debit card at a gas pump is allowed but then you have to go inside the place to get your receipt ? There is a Hess station down the road from me about a half mile at 1400 Augusta Rd in West Columbia.

Habitually I stop there either because it’s convenient or I forget that they don’t value my patronage.

I run my debit card at the pump and should get my receipt at the pump. However, it seems that I must continually walk into the store to get my receipt — you see, debit card purchases come from one’s checking account and if you’re a financial record procrastinator such as I am … you need the receipt to keep your check book straight.

When I pay at the pump I should get my receipt at the pump as well. I really don’t see this as a stretch of reasonable expectations … but do correct me if I’m wrong !

Furthermore, the message stating that I should go in the store for my receipt should be displayed on the little LCD panel thingie BEFORE you run my card so I can cancel the bloody transaction and take my business elsewhere. I rarely have this issue at other places in my vicinity. Just THIS Hess station.

So I get to go inside and control the stress building up as I suppress that need to beat the crap out of some unsuspecting clerk behind the counter … like she was in control of the poor management causing my outrageous discontent.

Duh. So I just take it again and go fetch my receipt and nobody even realizes how totally stupid I feel for having spent my hard earned money with these knuckleheads again !

I just keep my perturbedness to myself and come home then whine and moan about it here. Hess, please get your crap together. In the meanwhile … you know what they say about people who can’t benefit from past mistakes … ?

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Just got out of the VA Hospital …

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

A week ago I went to the Dorn VA Hospital on Garners Ferry Road in Columbia, SC to enroll.

My physician had become rather abruptly unavailable due to circumstances beyond his control — and I was mainly seeking to ensure that I could be seen if need arose and get refill prescriptions … the usual and sundry kind of healthcare preparations we engage in from time to time.

Immediately after I was enrolled the enrollment supervisor who took care of my registration asked me why I was coming to the VA and I explained with a thumbnail sketch of the boring details and then casually mentioned that I had experienced some intermittent chest pain from time to time.

He told me that I could go straight down to the Emergency Room and get that thing checked out immediately because that was something that you don’t play around with. I was reticent to make a big deal out of it due to the mild nature and long duration of this pain that came and went unpredictably.

After a rather lengthy interlude in the E.R. they admitted me.

Though now I’m ashamed to admit this, I had been experiencing some trepidation regarding even going to a Veterans Administration hospital for care — what with the movie ‘Born on the 4th of July‘ and a few horror stories I’ve overheard from time to time — and others I’ve read in various places.

However, this being said I have to say that the care given to me by the physicians and staff was nothing less than first rate and I could never characterize any aspect of my stay there using anything less than glowing terms. The conduct of each and every person I encountered during the course of my stay was beyond reproach.

They all tended to my every need promptly, courteously, and downright cheerfully. The physicians were thorough and personable. The nurses were on top of everything at all times. I’ll be sure to put in a good word for them whenever I can because it was as positive an experience as getting put into the hospital can be.

“Thank you, everyone at William S. Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center. I am grateful for your concern, attention to detail, and the treatment you gave me. Beyond the call of duty does not adequately describe all that was done for me. I will never be able to say enough good things about you.
Respectfully. “
Dave Williamson
Grateful Veteran at Large

God bless America and thank you for the William S. Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, SC. They REALLY took excellent care of me and I recommend them without reservation.

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Passages

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving brother in a political dynasty and possibly one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a difficult year-long struggle a brain tumor. Senator Kennedy’s family announced his death early Wednesday in a brief statement.

Mr. Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer in May 2008 and underwent surgery then chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

His public personal entailed being known as the last surviving son of America’s most famous political Irish-American family who were plagued by repeated tragedy as the years ensued.

He was 77 years old.

Rest in peace.

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Crazy Little Thing Called Love …

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

One of my buddies is having issues with his lady. It’s so unlike him in general; so many times I’ve heard him speak of her in superlatives and revel in her awesomeness … but of late he’s pretty subdued and quite frankly, a little sad. This is very uncharacteristic and has me somewhat concerned for his emotional well being.

“I love you, not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you.”
Roy Croft

Love is ageless, boundless, and without ego or strings; though it can be the strings that attach others to our hearts.

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
Aristotle

You are me and I am you — and we are one, we two … and therein lay the crux of the issue. Love provides for the single entity known as a ‘couple’. This is a much more complex individual than a ‘single’. Singles function alone. Couples function in concert. That which one does affects the other and vice versa … and the result is much more than the sum of the activities of both.

“Each moment of a happy lover’s hour is worth an age of dull and common life.”
Aphra Behn

I’ve often said that I would give up everything I’ve ever known to have had that elusive orb known as ‘true love.’ As Gibran said, “Love, but make not a bond of love …” but I would gladly give up all this freedom for the tie that binds. It depends on your orientation. Some can love freely. Others evolve through love. Still others are impenetrable by Cupid’s arrows. The loner of today becomes the wistful elderly person of tomorrow. Take time to know and understand those whom you love. It’s a sure way to open the channels of understanding yourself.

“Love distills desire upon the eyes, love brings bewitching grace into the heart.”
Euripides

To love is to know both yourself and another, but true understanding comes only with time.

“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach…”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The depth of love requires three distinct forms which are known as eros, philia, and agape.

Eros refers to the love of erotic intimacy, philia the love of friendship, and agape known as ‘unconditional‘ love or ‘charity‘.

“One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is Love.”
Sophocles

In all the frailties and faults which entail that thing called the human condition; the one redeeming aspect of which we all may partake is love. Love is sometimes happy, laughing, and joyous. Love can be taxing and vexing. Love can be sorrow and tears … but it is much better to love — even if you ‘love and lose’ than to never know love at all.

So cheer up Todd. You’ve been mostly a happy fellow with this woman and I think you’re a lucky man to have gone to that place where I have never been.

This thing called love I just can’t handle it
this thing called love I must get round to it
I ain’t ready
Crazy little thing called love
This (This Thing) called love
(Called Love)
It cries (Like a baby)
In a cradle all night
It swings (Woo Woo)
It jives (Woo Woo)
It shakes all over like a jelly fish,
I kinda like it
Crazy little thing called love

There goes my baby
She knows how to Rock n’ roll
She drives me crazy
She gives me hot and cold fever
Then she leaves me in a cool cool sweat

I gotta be cool relax, get hip
Get on my track’s
Take a back seat, hitch-hike
And take a long ride on my motor bike
Until I’m ready
Crazy little thing called love

I gotta be cool relax, get hip
Get on my track’s
Take a back seat, hitch-hike
And take a long ride on my motor bike
Until I’m ready (Ready Freddie)
Crazy little thing called love

This thing called love I just can’t handle it
this thing called love I must get round to it
I ain’t ready
Crazy little thing called love
Crazy little thing called love

The Late & Great Mr. Farrokh Bulsara
aka Freddie Mercury
Frontman, Queen

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