Guys, it's only a two bunny litter box

Uhm, Lookout...

Here we have Lookout asserting her dominance though mouthing behavior.

A lot of people don't realize that even spayed rabbits "mount" as a way of showing dominance. Another factoid that surprises a lot of people is that females are just as likely to mount as males, particularly if they, like Lookout here, are the "Alpha Bunny."

As you can see, Echo and Beanbag aren't impressed with her behavior, and are clearly just waiting for her to finish.

Despite being in charge, Lookout is a bit insecure about her place in the pecking order.

Beanbag and Lookout, hangin' out

They appear to like the freshly cleaned litter box

Echo and Lookout Lounging, Picture 2

Yep, the like the office.

Echo and Lookout Lounging, Picture 1

It looks like they approve of my wife's home office.

My Nephew

My Nephew left this with my parents last time he and my sister visited.

I think it falls cleanly into the "Cute but creepy" category, don't you?

The Trio at Breakfast

The rabbits during their morning feeding. They LOVE their Dandelion Greens

Holly contemplates the photographer

Echo tries to get inot the bag of papaya chunks

Beanbag Contemplates Romp Time

Echo snags some papaya

The Family Crest

Welcome to my office

You gotta love the air conditioning in basement offices.

Why do I keep ending up working in basements? It's a distressing pattern. I start off working in a room with a window, and then after about two years, I'm in a basement. I half expect to look over my shoulder and see Milton asking about his red stapler.

Bush Illegally Silences Critic of Iran Policy

"Flynt Leverett -- former CIA analyst, NSC member and established foreign policy expert -- has written an op-ed for the NYT bashing the Bush admin. for it's failed policies towards Iran. The WH, in typical ruthless and authoritarian form, has pressured the CIA to heavily redact his draft on the grounds that it would reveal national security secrets -- something the CIA disagrees with -- and have even threatened him with criminal prosecution. Leverett, visibly distraught at his press conference today, has countered that this claim is a "fraudulent" and deliberate attempt to silence a respected critic by politicizing the CIA review process"

The Machines are in Control Now...

Kinda puts the electronic voting machines thing in perspective, doesn't it?

Fwd: Can This Ad Restore Habeas Corpus?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anthony D. Romero, ACLU <Executive_Director@aclu.org>
Date: Dec 19, 2006 4:21 PM
Subject: Can This Ad Restore Habeas Corpus?

Click to view the full ad We've identified 25 members of Congress whose votes will make or break efforts to restore habeas corpus, stop torture, and end warrantless spying. Now, we urgently need more supporters like you in key Congressional districts. Your gift today will help create hometown pressure for our efforts to reclaim lost liberties. Help Run the Ads That Can Make It Happen. Donate Now! Dear Matthew, "We need more people. And we need them in the right places." That's what our legislative director, Caroline Fredrickson, told me when I asked her what we need to win real civil liberties victories in the new Congress. That's why we're running ads where it will count to build up our hometown strength. The ACLU's membership has more than doubled in recent years. But, in too many congressional districts, we still lack the hometown strength we'll need in the weeks ahead to restore habeas corpus, stop torture, and reclaim our lost liberties. We must raise enough money to run ads for each of our top 25 targeted Congressional Districts. Just how many ads we're able to run is going to be up to you. Please view the districts and then support our ad campaign now. In each of these places, we're looking for someone almost exactly like you. Same values. Same passionate commitment to freedom. Same determination to reclaim our lost liberties. But not necessarily the same hometown. For example, on the 40-member House Judiciary Committee, there are nine key representatives in districts where we absolutely need more ACLU members -- more members for those critical, decisive votes in Congress. With the help of ACLU supporters like you, we're going to run newspaper ads in local papers like the El Paso Times in Texas, the Greensboro News and Record in South Carolina and the Springfield News-Leader in Missouri. Our goal: attract thousands of new ACLU members and supporters in our crucial 25 targeted Congressional Districts. Help run the ads that will give the ACLU the strength to make genuine progress for freedom in 2007. You've done so much to stand up for freedom in 2006. If you want all of your hard work to pay off, now is the time to do even more. Help support our ad campaign and other wide-ranging efforts to build the strength we need to win in 2007. Let's make sure we don't fall a few votes short when it's all on the line in the new Congress. We're counting on your help with this very special project. Sincerely, Anthony D. Romero Executive Director ACLU P.S. Please view the 25 Congressional Districts, and then make a gift to help us run ads and build our base of support in as many of them as we possibly can.

Quotes of the Day

Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns

A thousand pages of hobbits hasn't been enough for three generations of post-World War II fantasy fans; even when you add in that clumsy, galumphing dirigible of an epilogue, The Silmarillion, it hasn't been enough. Hence Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, Robert Jordan, the questing rabbits of Watership Down. and half a hundred others. The writers of these books are creating the hobbits they still love and pine for; they are trying to bring Frodo and Sam back from the Grey Havens because Tolkien is no longer around to do it for them.

- Stephen King

The rabbits in the new digs

Test

Giants: Citizen Kabuto Cheats (PC)

The cheats below only work on the CD version. If you install any patches, the cheats no longer work.

On the bright side, none of the Nude Delphi hacks interfere with the cheats below.

Game Cheats
During gameplay you can hit the T or Y button and enter in one of the following codes and hit enter:

Display Frame Rate	Fr
Full Base Energy	Basefillerup
Full Health	Pleasehealme
Instant Gift Shop	Gimmiegifts
Instant Party House	Itsmyparty
Instant Smarty Work Force	Basepopulate
Show Entire Map	Mapshowitall
Speedy Base Construction	Basegoveryfast
Unlimited Mana	Ineedspells
Unlock All Levels	allmissionsaregoodtogo

Silly Dating Site Ad

Crass? Yes, Silly? Yes, but to the right is the image I encountered on a random technology site.

I wonder what they're trying to imply. I can't quite put my finger on it (And if I did, I suspect my wife would be a wee bit upset)

419 Takes a new twist

It seems the 419 Scammers are trying a few twists to keep reeling in the suckers. I just got one that followed the "Son of a wealthy man" theme, but instead of being a Nigerian banker or politician, it's a Farmer.

Yes, that's right, I just got an e-mail form someone claiming to be the son of a murdered farmer from Zimbabwe, looking to move $18 million out of a South African Bank.

From: "evan zuma" To: mrevanzumafamily7@hotmail.com Subject: very urgent and important Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2006 08:30:53 +0000

During the current war against the farmers i Zimbabwe from the supports of our
President Robert Mugabe to claim all the white-owned farms to his party
members and his followers, he ordered all the white-owned farmers to
surrender all their farms to his party members and his followers.
My father was one of the best farmers in our country and because he did
not
support his idea, supporters invaded my father’s farm and burnt
everything
in the farm, killing my father and made away with a lot of items in my
father’s farm. After the death of my father, my mother and I and my
younger
sister decided to move out from Zimbabwe because our lives were in
danger
with the money my father kept in his hidden safe in my mother’s house.
The
amount contained in the safe is US$18.500m (Eighteen million and Five
Hundred Thousand, US dollars)and we decided to move to the Republic of
South
Africa where we deposited the money in a Security Company as valuables.
So, I decided to contact overseas Firm that will assist me to move this
money out of South Africa, because we are asylum seekers here in South
Africa which disqualifies from operating an account or getting involved
in
any financial transaction here in South Africa.

Naturally, I sent a wise ass response:

Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:59:52 -0700 (PDT)

Pardon me, but where the Hell does a FARMER come up with $18 Million????

Unless of course he was raising something illegal, or was in fact a land baron oppressing his workers, in which case it's a good thing that the land was taken from him and turned over to the people who were actually working it.

You're either running a scam of some kind, or your Father deserved his death and you have no right to the blood money he accumulated on the suffering of others.

Alex Keaton

The truth about Barbara Bauer

So awhile back, Barbara Bauer tried to get SF Interesting Person and Tor Editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden fired. Bauer was threatening to sue Tor for libel for something TNH had said in a private capacity.

TNH had linked to the Writers Beware 20 Worst Agents list, which Barbara Bauer is on. (She's third!) Writers Beware is an organization loosely associated with the SFWA.

Bauer has, by dint of being annoying, gotten a respected web site which talks about publishing scams shut down. They're busy recovering and such, but... still.

So! Barbara Bauer. Sterling person. Honest.

(This is the same process by which people got 'miserable failure' linked to 'George W. Bush' in Google. Unless Google did that manually.)

Intersting bit of SPAM

I got some interesting SPAM the other day. I've included the details below.

I've never had any dealing with this group, never heard of them and can't find any actual details with a Google search.

The web site was also fairly amateurish, but it's down now, and I neglected to mirror it while it was still up.

Oh well, another scam bites the dust.

Return-path:
Received: from aol.com (pool-71-105-15-90.lsanca.dsl-w.verizon.net [71.105.15.90])
by merlinone.com (merlinone.com)
(MDaemon.PRO.v7.0.1.R)
with ESMTP id md50002839448.msg
for ; Tue, 07 Mar 2006 22:10:36 -0500
Message-ID:
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 12:39:03 +1100
Reply-To: "The Luggage Club"
From: "The Luggage Club"
X-Accept-Language: en-us
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: "Re:TLC Elite Clients" <{Munged}@merlinone.com>
Subject: No More Lost Luggage
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="us-ascii"
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MIME_HTML_ONLY,RCVD_FAKE_HELO_DOTCOM autolearn=no version=2.63
X-Spam-Level: ***
X-Spam-Processed: merlinone.com, Tue, 07 Mar 2006 22:10:40 -0500
X-MDAV-Processed: merlinone.com, Tue, 07 Mar 2006 22:10:40 -0500

Welcome to “The Luggage Club”- A Unique and Stress-Free Way to Travel

You now have the ability to travel with the peace of mind of knowing that
your luggage and goods will be waiting for you at your destination, and
avoid the hassles of lugging them to, through and from the airport.

The Luggage Club is an innovative solution to the headaches of everyday
travel for an increasingly mobile society. TLC will pick-up your luggage,
golf clubs, wheelchair, tradeshow materials, business equipment, bikes,
skis, snowboards, gear bags or any other items from your home, office or any
location and deliver them to your destination, worldwide.

TLC offers several money-saving programs including a Handicap Program for
physically disadvantaged travelers, a Corporate Program for business
travelers and a three-tiered Travelers Club Membership Program for frequent
travelers, plus Gift Cards are available for purchase.

We encourage you to visit our website at www.theluggageclub.com or call one
of our friendly customer service representatives at 877-231-5131 to answer
any questions you may have and explain to you how TLC can make all of your
travels more convenient and care-free.

Thank you and we look forward to making your travel experience more
enjoyable.

Sincerely,
Todd Kempinger
Co-Chairman/Chief Operating Officer

For more information on The Luggage Club, please visit our website at
www.theluggageclub.com or call us at 877-231-5131.

There is no better way to make travel easier and more relaxing.

Questions or comments? E-mail us at cs@theluggageclub.com or call us
direct at 920-231-5111.

To Leave our mailing list, please click on Reply and enter “Unsubscribe”
in the subject box.

----------------------------

A whois on the URL reveals the following:

Domain Name: THELUGGAGECLUB.COM
Registrar: INTERCOSMOS MEDIA GROUP, INC. D/B/A DIRECTNIC.COM
Whois Server: whois.directnic.com
Referral URL: http://www.directnic.com
Name Server: NS1.T6MEDIA.COM
Name Server: NS2.T6MEDIA.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 05-feb-2006
Creation Date: 12-sep-2005
Expiration Date: 12-sep-2006

Registrant:
SoftSystems.biz
P.O. Box 1624
Appleton, WI 54912
US
920-427-0843

Domain Name: THELUGGAGECLUB.COM

Administrative Contact:
Wetzel, Joseph wetzel@SoftSystems.biz
P.O. Box 1624
Appleton, WI 54912
US
920-427-0843

Technical Contact:
Wetzel, Joseph wetzel@SoftSystems.biz
P.O. Box 1624
Appleton, WI 54912
US
920-427-0843

Record last updated 02-05-2006 09:56:23 PM
Record expires on 09-12-2006
Record created on 09-12-2005

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.T6MEDIA.COM 205.209.100.129
NS2.T6MEDIA.COM 205.209.100.127

Mad Enough to Kill a PDA

If I had one of the programmers or engineers responsible for the Palm Pilot, Desktop or OS before me right now, I'd probably throttle the life out of them.

How this came to be

Many of you know that, as a result of owning two Palm Pilots of different Generations (The IIIxe and the T2), I had come to hate the brand with a broiling passion I normally reserve for select politicians.

My T2 died a hard death. Even the screen stopped working in the end.

I was so disgusted with Palm that I decided to ditch digital PDAs and go back to Paper.

The plan was simple. Print up my contacts and notes so I could put them in the old Day Planner I used for close to six years, most of it during college. Make notes in in and periodically update the contacts on the computer and print up a fresh copy.

Simple?

Well, if my contacts weren't in the Palm software yes. Even exporting to CSV in the Palm software does things like dump all the "primary" contacts into one column, with no way of differentiating between Call, Home, Work and Fax numbers. For some contacts, their e-mail address was dumped into this column.

I did a good deal of research, and found that the easiest way to get your contacts out of the Palm Software and into something else was to sync the Palm Pilot to Outlook instead of the Palm Desktop. This works nicely as OUtlook has a template that appears to be perfect for my day planner!

The problem of course being that the T2 is dead as a doornail and can no longer sync.

The Event

So Whuffle generously offered to let me use her Handspring for the data transfer. I would sync her handspring to my desktop, wipe the handspring, and then use it to get my data out of the Palm Desktop and into Outlook. I would then put her data back in the handspring.

Whuffle went to work, and as I had an hour and a half until I had to leave, I set about hooking her Handspring to my computer.

The first thing I noticed was the battery was low on the Handpsirng, so I changed the batteries and checked to make sure the contacts were still there.

They were. Everything was fine after the battery change.

I then created a new username in my Palm Desktop install and started the sync process to get Whuffle's contacts onto my Palm Desktop.

I then went to get dressed.

When I got back, I noticed the Handspring had a message saying it needed to be reset. I pressed the little "Reset" button on the screen, knowing that the Palm Pilot would do nothing but give me that screen until I reset it.

I then found myself staring in horror at the screen. The Palm Logo had come up, but was distorted, as if it had been drawn on an etch-a-sketch that was subsequently shaken.

I grabbed a paperclip and hit the reset button. The Palm Pilot went through it's "New Palm" wizard. When I went to the contacts, they were empty except for one entry for Handspring tech support.

Panic set in.

I launched the Palm desktop on my PC and took a look at the username I'd created for Whuffle.

No contacts. No calendar events. Nothing.

I checked the sync log.

The Palm software had, in it's typical wisdom, installed an OS update for Palm OS 3.1 on the handspring, INSTEAD of syncing the damn contacts.

The end result of course being that all the data had been wiped form the Handspring.

Aftermath

I can not describe the rage I felt at that point. I can't remember being that angry without my mother being involved. My hands were shaking, and had my T2 not been a dismantled heap on my desk I would have smashed it into oblivion then and there.

For a frame of reference, imagine Bill Cosby's routine about his wife finding him giving the kids Chocolate Cake fro breakfast. Then imagine that her reaction would be considered "mildly annoyed" compared to my mental state.

All I did was try to hotsync, and it lost all it's data.

I called Palm Tech Support.

They were closed. They don't open until 9:00 am EST.

I called their sales line, which promptly hung up.

I called their sales line again. This time the rep who had hung up on me stayed on the line, explaining that he was only in sales, and that there were no technicians he could go grab from another office. He reiterated that I would have to call their tech support line. I advised he find a job with a company that makes products that DON'T mangle customer data on a regular basis.

I'm a bit calmed down now.

Intellectually, I know there's nothing I can do to recover Whuffle's Handspring data. I have a year plus old copy of her contacts in one of my Palm Pilot categories, but that had GOT to be seriously out of date now.

I haven't been able to reach her on the phone yet. She's still on the bus getting to work, and her cell phone is off.

My goal is to get all my data out of the Palm Desktop. Even with the Palm Hardware dead, the damn desktop insists on continuing to screw me over.

I will never, as long as I live, use another piece of Palm hardware or software. IF I ever had an employer who handed me a Palm Pilot and told me I HAD to use it, I'd be seriously tempted to find a new job instead of continuing to use an unstable, unreliable piece of garbage like the Palm Pilot.

My Palm Tungsten 2 is dead

So, that monstrous little beast from Palm has finally died. After a few weeks of keeping a charge for all of four hours, the screen stopped working. If I smack it I can get half the screen to display, but generally it just comes up white with a few pale vertical streaks of color.

This is my second Palm Pilot, and given the way my IIIxe died, I'm concluding that the entire product line is flawed. My horrific experiences with Palm's tech support further cemented my distaste for the company. A flaky piece of hardware I can forgive, but keeping me running in tech support circles until my warranty expires I can't.

So now that the sucker is dead and gone, I find myself contemplating a replacement.

Naturally, anything Palm related is out of the question.

Whuffle offered to let me have her old Handspring so she could get a newer entry level Palm Pilot. While the idea appeals, it would mean she would be stuck not with a Handspring that she's been using reliably for years, but with one of the new Palms, which are running what appears to be a buggy, cobbled together OS in desperate need of replacement.

So I started thinking, what do I REALLY need a PDA for?

Games: Nope. That was true at one point, but I don't really play that many computer games anymore, and the ones I do like tend to not be available for the Palm Pilot. Aside from Solar Trader, The only Palm game that really stuck with me was Bejeweled, but I have that on my cell phone. Nethack runs on Pocket PC though...

Addresses: Yes, but my Palm Pilots have frozen and crashed during hot sync so often, that it's been years since I actually updated records on the PDA. I generally took notes on a slip of paper, made the changes on my computer and began the "Will it sync or crash" dance. I could accomplish the same thing by printing my addresses, putting them in a day planner, and periodically updating the printout. Hell, I can put my addresses on my iPod in a read only mode.

Memos / Notes: Only in theory. The Palm Desktop has become a convenient place to toss recipes and notes on my trips, but there are so many other options for that it's silly. If I'm on a trip, a piece of paper with my itinerary is more convenient than a PDA anyway.

Writing on the Road: While this is something I always thought I would do, the fragile nature of most Palm keyboards, combined with the 4k limit on Memos and the lack of a decent and reliable Palm text editor or word processor renders the idea moot. I've gotten more actual writing done in the last year using a travel notebook and a cheap pen than I did on both Palm Pilots combined.

Ebooks: This was the major use my Palm Pilots ever got. After getting an iPod and moving my audio books to it, I still found Plucker and Adobe Reader for Palm to be the major applications that I actually used on the Palm Pilot. A cheap e-book reader or something that integrated Plucker with the GameBoy ebook reader may very well be all I need for that. It would also be cheaper and more durable than a PDA.

Encrypting your address book, in case it's stolen: Cute in theory, the lack of a decent way to keep the addresses updated while still being able to sync them makes it, once again, impractical.

An Alternative Comes to Mind.

Then I remembered a very nice leather day planner I got as a high school graduation gift and used throughout college. All I really need is a way to easily print my address book so I can just put it in the binder. I'll make any changes I want to by hand, and then copy them to the CSV file containing the addresses later. Every few weeks / months I'll print a new copy if necessary.

Then again, I might just get generic memo pages for the planner and a package of mailing labels. Microsoft Word already has templates for printing on mailing labels. Of course that would be far more time consuming than I would like.

Assuming I resolve the printing issue, my old analog planner takes care of my addresses and a few pieces of notebook paper. iPod and Cell Phone take care of audio books and random games respectively, and the Game Boy takes care of "Driving cross country or flying for several hours" gaming.

So one question remains. What would you, my dear friends, recommend for an inexpensive, portable, non-Palm platform for reading ebooks, preferably with Plucker support?

More on John Loftus

TO: bkennedy@jihadunspun.net
Subject: Subject: RE: Is London Bombing Leader Haroon Rashid Aswat A Double Agent For MI6?

I recently came across an article on your site which mentions John Loftus as the primary source. I thought you might like to know that Mr. Loftus' credibility and ethical standing has come under scrutiny.

The URL is:
http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=104908&list=/home.php

On August 7, 2005, on Fox News' "Inside Scoop with John Loftus" he gave out the home address of an Orange County CA home, claiming it was the residence of a known terrorist.

The couple, who have no known ties to terrorism, have been harassed and their home vandalized. The local police have stationed a squad car outside their home to protect them 24 /7.

The "suspected" terrorist moved out of the home three years before the broadcast.

John Loftus has demonstrated a singular disregard for accuracy and public safety. His actions seemed geared towards inciting mob violence and the public lynching of innocent people.

I would avoid him in the future, as his lack of ethical standards and inability to distinguish truth from fiction will mar any article in which he is used as a source. His name will bring into question the accuracy and credibility of those who reference him.

As of this writing, FOX news has offered a one line apology in one online publication, Loftus has posted an apology to his web site, and he's sent an e-mail apologizing for his actions to the family.

FOX news has not published or aired a retraction or apology that even comes to the kind of exposure the original threat received.

Because of his reckless and dangerous behavior, I'm encouraging others to stop giving this dangerous and highly unstable man a forum. Any statements from Mr. Loftus are unlikely to "send shockwaves around the world" as he has demonstrated that reality and accuracy are not considerations when he says or writes anything. A growing number of people are realizing that Mr. Loftus is not a reliable source, but a fountain of misinformation. Only those more interested in sensationalism than accuracy should use him as a source.

--------------------------------------

Of course, the above e-mail bounced back when I sent it to the address listed on their site, which is also the address in their whois data.

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

bkennedy@jihadunspun.net

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 9): 503 This mail server requires authentication when attempting to send to a non-local e-mail address. Please check your mail client settings or contact your administrator to verify that the domain or address is defined for this server.

iTunes 6.0 is out

iTunes version 6.0 is out, adding support for Video Syncing. No other features appear to have been removed, which is a refreshing change for an iTunes release. Anyone else remember the plug-in for copying songs FROM your iPod, killed in iTunes 4.5? Anyone know if this workaround to enable iPod Download still works?

Quote of the Day

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction."
- Blaise Pascal

Sex, cars and fast women who work for cash

Brazilian brothels gagged by sensitive punters in censorship orgy. Latin lovers find censorship hard to swallow, say ads "blown out of proportion."

Brothel ads too racy for Grand Prix Thu Sep 22, 2005 8:31 AM ET165

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Two high-class brothels hoping to attract racers and pit crews in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix were shut down after they posted sexually explicit advertisements on 30 billboards around South America's largest city.

Sao Paulo Mayor Jose Serra demanded the billboards be covered with blank white sheets and his code enforcement officers sealed doorways to the brothels, Romanza and Cafe Millenium, with concrete blocks.

The billboards showed a photo made to look like a scantily clad woman was performing fellatio on a man in a racing uniform. Captions on the advertisements said in both Portuguese and English: "Do you know what happens after the (winners') podium?."

Another advertisement in Sao Paulo targeting race car drivers reads "emotion in every curve" alongside a semi-nude woman, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported.

Every year, brothel owners put up dozens of billboards targeting rich customers who visit Sao Paulo for the Formula One race.

But since taking office in January, the tough-talking Serra has tried to clean up the sleazy side of Sao Paulo, including shutting down cheap downtown hotels frequented by crack addicts.

Prostitution in Brazil is legal, but pimping is not. To avoid hassles from police, many brothel owners say they run "relaxation clubs for men" and that sexual services are not provided in exchange for money.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

White House Press Conference

9-19-2005 White House press conference:

ABC Reporter: President Bush, what's your position on Roe versus Wade?

President G. W. Bush: I really don't care how people get out of New Orleans.

ABC Reporter: That's not quite what I was trying to ask.

President G. W. Bush: Oh, I'm sorry. I don't care how they get out of Key West either.

Too True, all too true

At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies. - PG Wodehouse

Get John Loftus Off the Air

John Loftus is a name that will hopefully go down in infamy as an example of irresponsible and reckless reporting.

On August 7, 2005, on Fox News' "Inside Scoop with John Loftus" he gave out the home address of an Orange County CA home, claiming it was the residence of a known terrorist.

Predictably, the home has been the target of vandalism, threats and entire web sites sprang up dedicated to photographs of and maps to the home.

Aside from the lynch mob mentality involved in such an operation, there's the simple fact that the residents of the home have no known ties to terrorism.

As a matter of fact, the "suspected" terrorist moved out of the home three years before the broadcast.

As of this writing, FOX news has offered a one line apology in one on line publication, Loftus has posted an apology to his web site, and he's sent an e-mail apologizing for his actions to the family.

FOX news has not published or aired a retraction or apology that even comes to the kind of exposure the original threat received.

Because of his reckless and dangerous behavior, I'm encouraging others to get the word out, and convince the media to stop giving this dangerous and highly unstable man a forum.

Track down any references to John Loftus, contact the publications using him as a source or reporter, and tell them what you think.

An example e-mail would be:

I recently came across an article in which your site used John Loftus as a source. I thought you might like to know that Mr. Loftus' credibility and ethical standing has come under scrutiny.

Specifically, he gave the home address of a Southern California couple, claiming that it was the residence of a terrorist.

The couple, who have no known ties to terrorism, have been harassed and their home vandalized. The local police have stationed a squad car outside their home to protect them 24 /7.

John Loftus has demonstrated a singular disregard for accuracy and public safety. His actions seemed geared towards inciting mob violence and the public lynching of innocent people.

I would avoid him in the future, as his lack of ethical standards and inability to distinguish truth from fiction will mar any article in which he is used as a source. His name will bring your own accuracy and credibility into question.

John's National Radio Broadcast Schedule, according to his web site

Call Sign	Frequency	City	State	Time
WABC-AM	770	New York	NY	M-F (10p-1a)
KIXW-AM	960	Apple Valley (Los Angeles)	CA	M-F 7P-10P
KSFO-AM	560	San Francisco	CA	M-F 3a-5a
WGAW-AM	1340	Gardner (Boston)	MA	M-F (10p-1a)
WRKO-AM	680	Boston	MA	M-F (10p-1a)
WMAL-AM	630	Washington	DC	M-F (9p-1a)
WWBA-AM	1040	Tampa	FL	M-F Mid-3a as of 5/2/2004
WLVU-AM	1470	Tampa	FL	M-F Mid-3a as of 5/4/2004 (Simulcast of WWBA in overnights)
WXCE-AM	1260	Amery (Minneapolis)	WI	M-F 9p-midnight
KXL-AM	950	Portland	OR	M-F (10p-1a)
WKMI-AM	1360	Kalamazoo (Grand Rapids)	MI	M-F 10p-Midnight Clearing all 3 hour spots
WPEP-AM	1570	Tauton (Providence)	MA	M-F 10p-1a
WWSC-AM	1450	Glens Falls (Albany)	NY	M-F 10p-1a
KYOS-AM	1480	Merced (Fresno)	CA	M-F 7P-10P
WHON-AM	930	Centerville (Dayton)	IN	M-F (10p-1a)
WPFB-AM	910	Dayton	OH	M-F (10p-1a) sat 9p-1a
KNSS-AM	1240	Wichita	KS	M-F (10p-1a)
WINK-AM	1200	Ft. Myers	FL	M-F (10p-1a)
KXLY-AM	920	Spokane	WA	M-F (10p-1a)
WBCF-AM	1240	Florence (Huntsville)	AL	M-F (10p-11p)
WBAC-AM	1340	Chattanooga	TN	M-F (10p-1a)
WTRC-AM	1340	Elkhart (South Bend)	IN	M-F 1a-4a
KXIC-AM	800	Iowa City (Cedar Rapids)	IA	M-F 9p-midnight
WVMC-AM	1360	Mount Carmel (Evansville)	IN	M-F (10p-1a)
KION-AM	1460	Salinas (Monterrey)	CA	M-F (8p-10p)
KSLI-AM	1280	Abilene	TX	M-F (9p-12a)

Gay coffee burns fundie panties in "Famous American" quote brew ha ha. Starbucks refuses to dilute position.

Gay coffee burns fundie panties in "Famous American" quote brew ha ha. Starbucks refuses to dilute position, remains firm in face of bitter opposition from frothing conservatives. Refuses to closet this cup.

From the Seattle Times

A national Christian women's organization is accusing the Seattle-based coffee maker of promoting a homosexual agenda

"I think it's wiser for them to stay out of these issues so that they don't offend conservatives and people of faith. ... If you want my money, support some of my causes," said Maureen Richardson, state director of Concerned Women for America of Washington

Maureen appeard to be completely unaware in the contradiction in her "Stay out all together and support my stance" position.

PJ of Groklaw.Net, stalking victim

Exclusive: Who Is 'PJ' Pamela Jones of Groklaw.Net? — The now-famous opinion-shaping open source leader Pamela Jones, aka 'PJ,' doesn't give conventional face-to-face interviews. Never has, near as anyone knows.'

Maureen O'Gara is a "journalist" of dubious skill and accuracy. Above is a link to her latest crusade, the destruction of the primary maintainer of www.groklaw.net. A quick read of Maureen's article will reveal a somewhat psychotic hatred, followed up with what amounts to stalking. She, or an agent of hers, tracked groklaw's editor down to a New York Apartment, and then to the home of the woman's mother!

Maureen O'Gara has clearly gone over the deep end, and has resorted to stalking as fodder for her source material, tracking down an web site editor as if she were a consort of Whitey Bulger.

It's clear that SYS-CON and the so called "Linux Business News" are devoid of any journalistic merit, and have quite literally stopped to the level of newspaper tabloids and the Weekly World News.

I used to buy Linux World on the news stand if I saw a headline that interested me. The same goes for a number of SYS-CON publications, but I won't do that anymore. I'm not going to give my money to a company that's supporting a stalker in her morbid obsession with groklaw.net

Barracuda Networks and Maureen O'Gara

To: ******@barracudanetworks.com, ******@barracudanetworks.com
Date: May 9, 2005 11:10 AM
Subject: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

I'm writing to inform you I am engaging in a personal boycott of all your publications due to your affiliation Maureen O'Gara, who is currently stalking the Groklaw author Pamela Jones.

O'Gara's most recent "article" consisted of personal information about Ms. Jones, including her home address and disparaging comments about Ms. Jones' living conditions.

The article contained a number of offensive comments about the Jehovah Witnesses, under the guise of "accusing" Ms. Jones of being one.

I will not purchase any products or services from any firms who do business with SYS-CON while a paranoid, delusional pseudo journalist such as Maureen O'Gara remains on your payroll.

I am writing your advertisers to inform them of this decision, so they are aware that their use of your site for advertising purposes is costing them business.

---

From: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
To: *********
Date: May 9, 2005 11:24 AM
Subject: RE: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

******
Call me *** *** ****

---

To: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
Date: May 9, 2005 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

I'm afraid I can't call you during the day today, as I am at work and need to keep my line available for client calls.

I have noting against Barracuda Networks aside from your advertising with a company that employs a stalker disguising herself as a journalist.

You can see a copy of the article in question at
http://www.clientservernews.com/

The above link does not contain the photographs of the home of Pamela Jones that ran in other online publications running the article.

So long as Maureen O'Gara is employed by SYS-CON, I will not purchase any products from any company that advertises on their sites or in their publications. If SYS-CON fires Maureen O'Gara or a company ceases advertising with SYS-CON sites and publications, then I would have no reason to avoid their products.

---

From: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
To: ***********
Date: May 9, 2005 11:46 AM
Subject: RE: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

We don't emplyy this person according to our records.

---

To: ****** <******@barracudanetworks.com>
Date: May 9, 2005 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: boycott of your products due to SYS-CON

I know you don't employ Maureen O'Gara, however, you advertise on web sites owned and operated by SYS-CON, who does employ her. So long as your advertisements run on SYS-CON owned sites, and Maureen O'Gara remains a SYS-CON employee, then I will not purchase your products.

This is nothing personal, I'm informing all of the companies that advertise on SYS-CON sites of the same thing.

Rebuild Windows Boot.ini

This should work for W2K, W2003 and XP all versions. I've only tested it on W2K Server with a W2003 CD.

Boot from a Windows 2003 Server CD The command you want doesn't exist in earlier Windows versions, but you can use a Windows 2003 Server recovery console to rebuild the boot.ini for XP and w2K

Go to the recovery console.

Select the Windows install you want to repair.

Run the command:

bootcfg /rebuild

If you get an error that the disk may be damaged, run:

chkdsk c:

The /f option is not available in the recovery console

Pope Benedict XVI

Former Hitler Youth Member Elected Pope!

There's already a book about Benedict XVI, the Pope elected just a few hours ago.

The Publisher's page is here.

You can download a sample chapter as a PDF here(PDF)

And let's not forget catholicplanet.com, which argues that Benedict XVI is the second to last Pope before the return of Christ. Fascinating reading to say the least, and this LJ entry goes into more detail.

From CNN

In the Vatican, he [Newly Elected Pope Benedict XVI] has been the driving force behind crackdowns on liberation theology, religious pluralism, challenges to traditional moral teachings on issues such as homosexuality, and dissent on such issues as women's ordination.

Emphasis Mine

I hate cars, I REALLY hate cars

I get to work, and pull towards the back of the small, compact but serviceable lot. I stall the engine while trying to back up. I try to start the engine. The lights come on in the car, but I hear nothing from the engine itself.

"Feh, I must not have been pressing the clutch right."

Try again.

Nope, that's not it.

"Something with the position of the steering wheel?"

Nope, still nothing from the engine. The starter isn't even turning over.

At this point I've starting to swear. A coworker notices that he can pull the positive lead right off my battery, and says that the battery is probably "Not getting purchase, and not recharging."

"Damn Battery" I mutter, glad of the emergency jump start kit I got at a Christmas gift. I tighten the problem lead and try to jump start the car.

No dice. Jump starting fails to get even a murmur form the engine.

Checking the fuses also yielded no love.

I ended up walking to the Sullivan across the street and handing them my key. I told them where the car was and am waiting for them to show up and take it.

In the mean time, most my coworkers have to park on the street to leave room for them to come in with a tow truck when they get off their asses and to move the sucker.

Yeah, because you know after paying my taxes, getting a bunny fixed and struggling with credit card debt, I desperately needed to spend money on engine work on a car with cosmetic damage I can't afford to repair.

I'm not QUITE to the point of putting it up for sale, but this is getting pathetic. I've had it less than a year. Part of my brain is saying "Sell it, get rid of it, get another Toyota." Another part is saying "You drove a convertible all blooming winter. Do you have any idea what a sap you'd be to sell it before driving it with the top off?"

Senator Santorum, Too Stupid to Breed

Sources:
Issue turns personal for Santorums
Father First, Senator Second

God puts smack down on ultra conservative senator, but senator is too dumb to realize what happened.

"I killed his son to get him to see late term abortions from the mother's side, but he's too insensitive to his wife's suffering to have any empathy, and too stupid to see the point I'm trying to make."

When asked about future plans for dealing with senator Santorum God replied, "I thought about making his kids gay, to try and force him to see gay rights from a different viewpoint, but Lucifer started chanting about how well that worked with Dick Cheny. I've given up on trying to make American see something from an alternate viewpoint by making them live it. If it's another family member, they just ship them off to be 'treated' and if I do something to their own bodies, they babble about me testing their convictions or Satan trying to attack them for being so virtuous."

When asked about the message to be conveyed by the September 11th attacks, God grew irate and said "None. There's no message in it. It's not judgment on anyone. I nearly struck Pat Robertson with Leprosy when he claimed it was my judgment on America over gay rights. I decided that was too Old Testament, so I just made him see images of black pots and kettles everywhere for a couple of months."

Sent to "The Daily Shark Tank"

This programmer Pilot Fish is part of a team developing a distance learning product for a multinational financial firm.

Fish Says, "We were building it as an add on to our existing code base, and all of out other clients used the social security number as a username, so we did the same thing with the new client's setup.

Fast forward three months. The site is going live in three days and 700 students from the New York office are in the system. That's when the firm's Chief Privacy Officer takes a look. "Naturally he was horrified, and demanded the Social Security Numbers be deleted. We generated new usernames based on other criteria and moved on."

Two days after go live, the client says the system needs to tie in with their Peoplesoft system. They send a chart of Social Security Numbers and the Peoplesoft ID, but no other data. Naturally, sales promises this as a free reporting add on.

It takes about a week to explain to the client that there's no way to add these IDs to the database, because the Social Security numbers have already been purged, and the backups deleted.

In the end, the client sends another spreadsheet with the Peoplesoft ID Numbers and the users' names, but again, no other data.

"While this works for many users, it took over a year to iron out all the snafus with names like "John Smith" and "Sara Miller."

Notes on SQL

Asterisks in select statements are something of a performance hog. I try not to use them in production code unless I actually need all the columns in the table.

Let me give you a real world example:

The stock version of the IntraLearn ASP 3.0 LMS can handle about 100 to 150 course logins a day before it grinds to a halt. It ships with no indexes.

I set up the performance monitor for about 12 hours and fed the results into the MS SQL "Create Index Wizard." The resulting indexes allowed the system to handle 400 to 500 logins a day.

Next, I decrypted the Cold Fusion scripts in which IntraLearn had been written (CF gives you the option of a rather absurd "encryption" routine to obfuscate your code) and started rewriting queries. All I did was remove asterisks and replace them with references to the actual columns used in the code. The result was a system, still on the same hardware, that could handle 1,300 to 1,500 student logins a day.

Enabling Cold Fusion's query result caching for language variable queries added another 200 daily logins. I did more to optimize IntraLearn after that, but that's not relevant here.

The advice about indexes is good. If you do a select * the only index used is generally the clustered index. It's always better to have indexes that reflect the actual queries you run, but a select * eliminates the possibility of doing that.

One way to see the difference is to run a few select queries in the MS SQL Query Analyzer with "Show Execution Plan" enabled. It adds an "Execution Plan" tab next to "Grids" and "Messages" that tells you, among other things, which indexes if any are being used to process the query.

An easy way to test one query against another is to run them both at the same time, and see what percentage of the total Query cost each one represents. I used this trick at my last job to convince the CTO that a few applications needed some work. Looking up the same data twice and demonstrating the existing query ate up 85% of the Query cost was a simple and persuasive argument. Not terribly scientific, but persuasive.

For example, say you want to get the imageid and expiration date for all the items in photos_def. On my current test database, I run the following queries:

    select * from photos_def
 
  select imageid, expires_on from photos_def

The one with the asterisk represents 77.05% of the total Query cost.

Another advantage to only retrieving the columns you need is the reduced memory and processing overhead. Using the more efficient query means I don't have to iterate through the other values or waste memory assigning them to local variables. Don't underestimate this memory and CPU savings. It adds up FAST.

Matthew (Webmaster of onlineconfessional.com)

---

This was written as part of an in office conversation about this Usenet post

David Portas Oct 8 2004, 1:00 pm show options
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.sqlserver.server
From: "David Portas" - Find messages by this author
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 21:00:18 +0100
Local: Fri,Oct 8 2004 1:00 pm
Subject: Re: asterisk in select_list in queries...

Best practice is to avoid using SELECT * in queries (except in an EXISTS
subquery or other subqueries that don't return data and aren't referenced by
an outer query).

Listing the column names makes sense in an N-Tier environment because you
want to make efficient use of network resources by returning to the client
only the data that is actually needed. This is an important difference from
a desktop, ISAM database like FoxPro where you have to retrieve a whole
record whether all the data is required or not.

Listing only the required columns also increases the opportunities for SQL
Server to optimize your query by making use of indexes.

Also, listing column names improves reliability and ease of maintenance. If
you later add another column you don't want to break existing code that
doesn't require that column. Use a column list and then just modify the code
that needs to reference the new column. If you use an asterisk in your
SELECT list then potentially more code could need modification and more code
would need to be unit-tested for each schema change.

Shortcuts? In Query Analyzer you can drag a list of column names from the
Object Browser into the query window. That can save you a lot of typing.

--
David Portas
SQL Server MVP

"Encrption.txt (sic)" in the wild

Regular readers (Do I even HAVE any of those? I doubt it.) Will remember this post about an amusing file found in the IntraLearn LMS.

Here are a couple examples of "Encrption.txt (sic)" in the wild. To check for it on your IntraLearn install, just add /cgi-bin/Encrption.txt to the end of the URL itself, deleting /home/ or other information at the end of the URL.

Why does this file matter? Because it consists of the IntraLearn corporation admitting that it distributes software for which it has lost the source code, and as a result, has no way to know what's really in the files they distribute. Seems the perfect place for someone to have put a back door or logic bomb, doesn't it?

The sad thing is, the code isn't compiled, it's encrypted using the cfencrypt utility that comes with Cold Fusion. A quick web search for cfdecrypt would lead them to a command line utility that would allow them to recover the source code of the offending files.

That's right folks, a quick Google is too complicated for IntraLearn developers.

Please note, an absence of the warning about the files does not mean your version of IntraLearn is magically running code for which IntraLearn has the source.

Site	IntraLearn Site	Link to file
UMass Roxbury	http://roxburycc.umassonline.net/home/	View the sample
Enbanet Powered Boston University Site	http://216.234.48.127/home/	View the sample

WTF is up with Australia???

As many of you already know, news.google.com has introduced some customization options. You can delete categories, and add custom categories. As a joke, I added an Anna Nicole Smith category, and this was today's first article.

I post it because I can't for the life of me figure out why this was even printed, or why they seem to make a connection between this guy leaving his marketing job and having attended a party where Anna Nicole Smith was in attendance.

And what the heck does this mean?

A source from the partying group said last night that Mr Hoy "very kindly" paid for the drinks. Smith had apparently caught with "her bare hands" a live goldfish at the restaurant.

Of course, this line sounds like the Anna we all know:

"They were getting on well," the source said. "But she was getting on well with everyone, actually."

I've learned one thing from this story. They clearly have some strange ideas about what's newsworthy in Australia.

Heidi Fleiss is a moron and Martha Stewart is still a criminal

Heidi Fleiss was recently quoted as saying:

"It's so wrong what they did to her, just because she [Martha Stewart] is a powerful woman. "

Sorry Fleiss. Stewart happened to engage in what's called "Insider Trading." Ever since Stewart was accused, I've heard all kinds of rationales about why she shouldn't be punished for it, and why it shouldn't even be illegal.

On the surface, what she did was little more than the antics of almost every "Wall Street" Movie villain since the genre was born, but insider trading is illegal for a lot of reasons. I won't go into the details, but after six years of reading Securities Continuing Education courses, I think I'm justified in saying anyone who thinks insider trading is "OK" is speaking from a place of deep and profound ignorance about Finance.

As a quick example, insider trading is what allowed many Enron executives to dump their stock before the accounting scandal became public.

You see, Stewart has what's called a "Series 6 License" It happens to be one of the tougher licenses to get, and it's tightly regulated. It also means that you;re supposed to know better about how to behave. The actions that would get the random joe six months would literally get a Series 6 license holder Six Years, again because they're supposed to know better. As one friend of mine who HAS a series six license put it, "If I'd done exactly what Stewart had done, I'd be in Federal 'pound me in the ass' prison for six to ten years."

What Ms. Fleiss and the others who blithely and ignorantly worship Martha Stewart are ignoring, is that she got an absurdly mild slap on the wrist because she's a wealthy and powerful woman.

What people don't realize is that even though they don't understand it, what Martha did was illegal and carries stiff penalties for good reason. What they don't realize is that she got a sentence that was an insignificant fraction of what anyone else would have gotten. What the judge did in sentencing her was the legal equivalent of falling on his knees and kissing her toes.

So, Ms Fleiss, I'll keep reading your amusing comments, not out of any actual concern for what you have to say, but because I find painfully stupid people amusing whenever they're not in office. Besides, it reminds me why the best line of work you could come up with was as a whore.

"Teddy" Story Contest

On March 3, 2005, ABC Online ran an Associated Press story about the "Teddy" prototype on display at Microsoft.

Slashdot.org also has a discussion about this story

On the surface, it's a baby monitor on Steroids, but as any imaginative soul can see from reading the article, there are a number of far more sinister implications afoot.

The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection. ... "The vision behind this is to be two places at once,"

My mind began to whirl with ideas. How would this change the way we parent? How can something like this be abused? How would controlling parents use a device like this? How would something like this change our society?

What kinds of children will we be dealing with when parents use devices like this in place of their actual physical presence, or for pervasive monitoring?

A few years ago I saw a Mocumentary from the BBC that postulated what the future might hold, and one of the segments depicted a mother planting a tracking device in her daughter's arm that was part of a birth control implant, thus giving the mother the ability to track the daughter's motions 24/7.

So I propose a contest. Write a story involving "Teddy". Make it positive, negative, hopeful or pessimistic. Encase the hardware in different shells if you like (A clown or a Jack in the box spring to mind). Is it a gift from parent to child? Is a workaholic parent using it to "Spend time with the kids" while at the office? Is an obsessive individual or a stalker using it to monitor their prey? Is it being used as nothing more than a cuddly baby monitor, sort of a remote control Teddy Ruxpin?

Is the child's sense of "What's alive" being messed with? Does the distinction between human and machine blur, and what is the result?

Ask and or answer any of these questions.

Categories, judging criteria and prizes will be determined later. For now, just post your ideas and links to your stories.

Feel free to spread the word about this little contest, and get others involved. The topic fascinates me, and I'm intersted in reading what other people have to say about it.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=545978&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
By ALLISON LINN
The Associated Press

REDMOND, Wash. Mar 2, 2005 — The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection.

The plush prototype, on display at Microsoft Corp.'s annual gadget showcase Wednesday, is one of several ideas researchers have for robots. The idea is to create a virtual being that can visit the neighboring cubicle for a live telephone chat even as its owner is traveling thousands of miles away, or let the plumber into the house while its owner enjoys a pleasant afternoon in the sun.

Plenty of companies are already building robots for the work place, and toy companies have created plush dolls that know a child's name or can incorporate other personal information. But Steven Bathiche, a research and development program manager with Redmond-based Microsoft, said his company's projects go further.
Top Stories

"The vision behind this is to be two places at once," Bathiche said.

The "Teddy" project was one of about 150 projects on display at Microsoft's TechFest, a two-day event that gives Microsoft's worldwide team of researchers the chance to show product developers their sometimes far-flung creations, and perhaps find a fit for the projects in a future, marketable product.

TechFest opened Wednesday, mainly to full-time Microsoft employees. The company expected about 6,000 to attend, including Chairman Bill Gates and other executives. A few government officials, academics and journalists also were allowed.

Raman Sarin, a Microsoft development engineer, was just looking for a way to learn more about programming smart phones when he decided to create a program to monitor traffic a constant complaint in the car-clogged Seattle area. The result is SmartPhlow, a program that not only monitors current traffic patterns but also uses real-time and archived data to predict when the next backup might occur.