(music in the background... Queen - Another One Bites the Dust)

Well, it was said best in this quote:

According to the company FAQ, today is the last day of service for the hipster-focused MVNO Amp'd Mobile, who recently filed for bankruptcy after nearly half of their very hip customers failed to pay their bills.

Amp'd Dies At Midnight - Assets being auctioned off... - dslreports.com

PhreakNIC is having a bit of a struggle this year. Presentation submissions have been very slow this year, artwork is still stalled at the inspiration stage, and now toorcon has plopped down on the same weekend of the calendar as PhreakNIC. That's ok, things like this happen and you can't grow every year. Toorcon may or may not have an impact on a regional con like PhreakNIC in terms of pulling away attendees, but it will definitely have an impact on us in terms of speaking engagements.

I am asking for help here. I need people to commit to speaking at PhreakNIC now - not later. Over the past several years we've hosted some great presentations and have had the wonderful success of reaching new audiences. In last year's opening talk, a good 75% of the people in the room at that time were first year attendees. Those people are the reason why PhreakNIC exists today, even though it started out as a get together of old school people to party. It has evolved since then.

Skydog will be handing out literally hundreds of "marketing items" (condoms with the logo and URL printed on them) at DEFCON and I hope that means a lot of page hits. The best way for us to capitalize on that would be to have some worthwhile presentations listed. Can you help us out?

Thanks,
Dolemite

Come on guys, step up....

PhreakNIC Appeal

Here is a funny eweek slideshow...

Just up my ally... hopefully, you'll like it...

10 Answers to Your Questions About the Past, Present and Future of the Internet

There is a woman in Utah, who paints those who have served our country to the highest degree, and sends those portraits to the grieving families...

and she doesn't make a penny...

God broke the mold when he made her...

Artist paints the lost men and women of war, for free

possibly noteworthy wrote:

It seems there's nothing like natural beauty to bring out the best in high-definition technology. The BBC's Planet Earth: The Complete Series has been wowing high-definition audiences in the States where it's been pronounced as the biggest money-spinner to ever hit the HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc market.

Great! So maybe people really do want to know more about science ...

"This series was made for high definition," Sanders says. "Its success points to consumers wanting to see and hear high-definition content, and there isn't a huge amount of true content available from broadcast or cable or satellite."

Oh, I guess not. It's just about pretty pictures and high-tech bling.

Shock

HORROR!

I don't have an HD capable TV, and don't plan on owning one until I'm FORCED to by the FCC. My 36" Sanyo has a great picture, and I love BBC's planet earth. So for me, it's not about the bling... it's about the earth...

RE: BBC's Planet Earth is highest grossing HD disc in US

Send an Anti Valentines Day Card to someone!

Valentine's Day is upon us once more: that special time of year when chocolate manufacturers and greetings card companies encourage you to demonstrate the extent of your fondness in cold, hard, cash (or the satin-hearted equivalent) on February 14th.
This year, celebrate or commiserate by sending an anti-valentine. Send it today, tomorrow, or any day you damn well please. This year, say it with bile.

I wish I'd have seen this sooner.

The Anti Valentine

Why most suicide bombers are Muslim, beautiful people have more daughters, humans are naturally polygamous, sexual harassment isn't sexist, and blonds are more attractive.

As seen from Slashdot... just thought I'd crosspost...

Psychology Today: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

In a drug case from San Diego County, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco likened computer surveillance to the "pen register" devices that officers use to pinpoint the phone numbers a suspect dials, without listening to the phone calls themselves.

We lose yet another privacy right... they're falling like flies...

SAN FRANCISCO / Judges OK warrantless monitoring of Web use / Privacy rules don't apply to Internet messages, court says

k wrote:

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

I think Mr. Iacocca is a mite perturbed, at George.

[ Well said, very well said. Star-worthy. -k]

What everyone seems to be missing is that what Mr. Iacocca is writing about isn't George, or any other political faction, but the "Who cares?" attitude to all of these changes in our country.

I've been in several conversations lately, about the fact that this isn't the country that I grew up in, nor the country I proudly served in the US Army for, and certainly not the country that I respect.

I think that the point to be had here isn't political finger-pointing, but an actual movement of people who are willing to speak out against what is making America fall behind the rest of the world. It's not about partisan politics, or fringe movements, we can't blame them.

We have to blame ourselves. We voted for them, didn't speak out enough, and haven't gotten our representatives and senators to perform for us...

We need to do more, and not just petty bickering amongst "dems" and "repubs"... that's not getting us anywhere.

RE: Borders - Feature - Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

Excerpt
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

By Lee Iacocca
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less
build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are
not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

My friends tell me to calm down. They say, "Lee, you're eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people." I'd love to-as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I'll tell you how I see it, and it's not pretty, but at least it's real. I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey,America, wake up. These guys work for us.

Who Are These Guys, Anyway?

Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them-or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy.

And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation... [ Read More (1.9k in body) ]

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?