The scene of the crime was a bloody one, where Rebecca Arnold Dawson, 34, of Stockyard Road in Lillington, tried to cut off the genitals of Kevin Russ with her hands.

Ok, what is going on here? Some woman has enough hand strength to rip the genitalia from this guy's body?

Something here is wrong, scary, and/or simply freakish...

Guys, guard your boys... 'specially in NC.

The Daily Record, Dunn, North Carolina | Castration Scene Disturbing

Just one of my latest rants.... (now with Voice!!!)

I am SOOOOooo proud of the Atlanta residents, who feel that it is their duty and privilege to "Support the Wildlife" with their vanity plates, and use their drivers window as their ashtray.

Trashing our Highways, one cigarrette at a time...

In what appears to be one of the largest computer security breaches ever at an American university, one or more hackers have gained access to a UCLA database containing personal information on about 800,000 of the university's current and former students, faculty and staff members, among others.

Ok... is it me? or is this 2006 going on "When are people going to GET IT?"

There needs to be some repercussions for these types of losses. I'm sure UCLA will simply raise their tuition fees to cover any losses, but how about losing their accreditation for 2 years? If they are fraudulent in Sports, they can't play, but if they are weak in INFOSec, there's no penalty? This can't be right... what message is this spreading?

I'm not trying to pick on Universities, but we need to have stronger drivers than the press, for organizations to "Do the right thing" with Information Security.

If we were to put this into the physical realm, someone would be fired, and or go to jail, as this would mean that there were no guards around the data, and it wasn't locked up, nor audited... for OVER A YEAR!!!, That's just irresponsible... and in legal terms, GROSSLY NEGLIGENT.

I hope that some of the people who's information was not protected by UCLA sue the school for millions in mental distress and damages... we need to raise the level of awareness...

If UCLA isn't doing their INFOSec job right, what is the local community college doing with it? How about the mom & pop bank? Or anywhere else that your personal information may be stored?

Gawd it's too early to be awake...

Major breach of UCLA's computer files - Los Angeles Times

The difference is that even during a full on nuclear exchange at the height of the cold war (1984 I believe), there would still be humans left. The death tolls would be significant, in the hundreds of millions to even a billion, but about half of the population would survive after the exchange, and a half again after the nuclear winter subsided. There were never enough arms to totally wipe out the human race. And a large section of the population didn't live near primary targets.

Wrong. There were enough Nuclear weapons on the planet at the height of the cold war to destroy all human live four times over. And it doesn't matter if a large section of the population didn't live near primary targets (which wasn't true either), because the climatological changes post an all out nuclear war would have destroyed all life on earth.

Now when you're talking about climate change, and many of the models indicate not only intolerable shifts in temperature as well as the atmosphere changing to essentially be poisonous, then I think he has a point. Granted, it would take hundreds of years to get to this state, but it's a lot more deadly consequence than the 90 minutes it would take to get off a nuclear exchange.

See above... those who die in the first 90 minutes would be the lucky ones. I was actually happy that I did grow up in a primary target area, because I wouldn't have to be around to suffer the end of man.

Actually, Nature has a way of controlling the climate. (hint) It's the largest unexplored area of our planet. El Nino is just the beginning. As more polar ice (fresh water) melts, and gets into the circulatory flow of the planet, changes the salinity of the current flows, causing temperatures of waters of all the world to change, effecting the climate directly.

We can continue to pollute the earth, the climate will change, and adjust, and begin eradicating humans. I really DON'T care, because nature will still survive. If it is our destiny to destroy ourselves, who are we to stop it?

RE: AM - Gore warns on climate change

I'm in love with the fact that this is in plain language, and simply lays out the use and care taken to protect our privacy.

Cudo's to the staff of Industrial Memetics.

It's never easy to write these things... I know how much they sux.

MemeStreams Privacy Policy Changes (Draft for public review)

AL GORE: What is unique about the climate crisis is that it could end all human civilisation.

It seems that Al Gore has forgotten about the Cold War, Mutually Assured Destruction, SLBM's, ICBM's, and the Duck and Cover movies...

I know I haven't forgotten...

Is it me, or is it that every time Al Gore opens his mouth, he switches feet?

AM - Gore warns on climate change

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States have launched talks to establish common guidelines over data privacy rules, EU and US officials said on Tuesday.

A committee of EU national data privacy supervisors is due to rule on Wednesday over the access to private transactions which the international banking network SWIFT gave the United States.

And,

Frattini said he proposed to the United States to create a permanent working group to bring data protection rules closer.

"We need to exchange data with the US because if that helps to stop a terrorist attack, we're all happy. But we also need to protect innocent people data," he said.

EU lawmakers called on the EU and the United States last month to negotiate a wide-ranging agreement on security and data privacy.

SWIFT has been at the centre of controversy since US media revealed it had allowed the Treasury Department to tap into its records to search for evidence of terrorism-related activities without informing European authorities.

A spokeswoman for SWIFT welcomed the announcement of the EU-US talks on data privacy, saying it was "the way forward."

A US official repeated on Tuesday the US view that European data protection law is not applicable to cover measures taken by the United States for its national security.

I PRAY that we move towards the EU method of protecting privacy for individuals in this country. We've moved more into a "Soviet Union" method of personal privacy...

I'm personally happy to see the US get their hands slapped and now begin working on the problem.

EU, US in talks over common data privacy rules - Government/Law - www.itnews.com.au

In a draft statement, which will be completed and officially issued today, the European Union panel, charged with monitoring legal and privacy issues with SWIFT, said financial institutions across the bloc shared responsibility with SWIFT for the breach of European civil liberties.

The United States has defended the secret information transfer program, which began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. But critics in Europe argue that it placed the United States' security interests ahead of European norms of human rights.

A separate investigation by a Belgian privacy commission concluded in September that SWIFT had flouted European privacy rules, calling the disclosure of secret financial transfers "a gross miscalculation."

It would be nice if we played well with our "Neighbors"...

Banking group gave data to U.S. illegally, EU panel decides

Oh, by the way, since the cold war ended and Russia has become "democratic" state, we've begun to see more and more of the influences that come with being democratic.

We're being beaten at our own game., and instead of helping the Russian people, we're continuing to build a divide, that will create another conflict.

Perhaps the better way to solve this problem is to open up some of the technology...?

I truly don't know the "right" answer, but having to start another "cold war" isn't something that I am looking forward to... nor is having to fight data loss on a different front.

globeandmail.com: Russian spies target Western technology

Abaddon wrote:
i hate my life...i hate my job, i hate my city, i hate everyone in that city, i hate my work, i hate my reputation, i hate the choices ive made in life, i hate that i have almost no friends here, i hate not fitting in, i hate not being trusted, i hate not being worthy of trust, i hate being crazy, i hate sane people, i hate being in debt, i hate having no control, i hate having control and fucking things up with it, i hate chaising after some bullshit dream, i hate having accomplished those dreams only to find that im empty, i hate being empty all the time, i hate my future, i hate it when people assume things are going great for me, i hate that im just like my mother, i hate that nothing matters to me anymore, i hate everything...and right now, i hate me...

maybe tomorrow will be better...

Abbaddon,

Simply put, come back to Atlanta, or Dallas, and fuck the job, fuck the city, fuck the work, fuck the reputation... We trust you, and care... so, if you need anything, just call on your friends... we're still here.

RE: I hate