Decius wrote:
Lamar Alexander:

I think video games is a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people.

Like current senators aren't one of the biggest problems of all...

RE: Yes, a US Senator just said games are a bigger problem than guns | Ars Technica

I would so love to see this search warrant.
Kid says he went into a chatroom for anonymous. That link came up everywhere on twitter when attacks were going on.

"About 7 a.m. yesterday the FBI came in the door with about 10 people, I believe with flashlights, yelling 'Open the door'," said Zhiwei 'Jack' Chen, an 18-year-old computer engineering student who has become a person of interest to the FBI.

"He opened the door and they pulled him out into the hall, and they came in with flashlights and they told us to get out," his roommate Kurt Heinrich said.

"I got off my bed and they pulled all of us arm by arm out the door," Chen said.

They say drawers were spilled out, closets opened, and everything was searched.

"They confiscated everything..."

Georgia Tech Dorm Room Raided in Connection with WikiLeaks Sympathizer Investigation

I've yet to see any REALLY decent coverage of this debacle.
Symantec releases a 'patch' and doesn't SIGN it? (and that gets through QA how?)....
====================

"Symantec said Tuesday that an unsigned patch released by the company had been used as an excuse for spammers to launch a disinformation campaign about the company.

On March 9, Symantec released a patch labeled "PIFTS.exe" between 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM Pacific time, that was a legitimate upgrade for both Norton Internet Security as well as Norton Antivirus 2006 and 2007. By mistake, Symantec said, the patch was not digitally signed, leading Symantec's own products to flag the patch as possible malware. ...
Symantec apparently exacerbated the situation by removing what it called spam posts, leaving others to wonder whether Syamtec was censoring an issue that would have hurt the company's reputation."
=======================

Then when firewalls go off, users post about it, and Symantec deletes their posts. They later claim hackers from the likes of 4chan (which was ablaze with speculation about it) spammed their boards like crazy with it, so they had to scrub the boards.

BAD GUYS get hold of it, and quickly the top search results on pifts.exe give folks viruses.

Rumors fly it is it accessing a server in Africa. Not exactly true, more like one in Arlington?

Symantec says everything is fine, it is harmless.
But people had already started analyzing it. It looks a wee bit like spyware.
But all is fine, because Symantec says it is. It is all just a disinformation campaign against them. Please go back to what you were doing.

But..that's ignoring the fact that it is just all...so...bizarre...

Pifts.exe is a good name for a weird thing, pfffffffffft

A lot of other people have Kathryn Johnston’s blood on their hands too, people with names like Bennett, Gates, Walters, Souder, Tandy, and Meese. They’ve been ratcheting up the war rhetoric of drug prohibition for 30 years.

I would have added Biden to that list.

Most of America is now accustomed to the notion that state agents dressed in battle garb can and will tear down the doors of private homes in the middle of the night for nothing more than mere possession of psychoactive substances. And most of the time, they do it under the full color of law.

If a violent, terrifying, paramilitary-style raid in the middle of the night on someone suspected of a nonviolent, consensual crime isn’t “unreasonable,” I don’t know what would be.

Kathryn Johnston’s death is tragic. But the real tragedy here is that had the cops found a stash of marijuana in her basement that actually did belong to her–say for pain treatment or nausea–her death would have faded quickly from the national news, these tactics would have been deemed by most to be wholly legitimate, and we probably wouldn’t still be talking about her today.

No knock warrants....how are they constitutional?

The Agitator » Blog Archive » Tearful Atlanta Cops Express Remorse for Shooting 92-Year-Old Kathryn Johnston, Leaving Her To Bleed to Death in Her Own Home While They Planted Drugs in Her Basement, Then Threatening an Informant So He Would Lie To Cover It All Up

"SALINAS, Calif. -- A man who was mistaken for a robber and ended up with a face broken in six places filed a lawsuit against the city and two officers on Thursday.

Ryan Favila said that on Oct. 18, 2007 he was mistaken for a car thief, thrown to the ground and then kicked in the face by Salinas police officer Michael Cupak.

Favila sustained a fractured nose and bones in his face broke in six places."

The problem, IMO, - what will cause great trouble soon, I think - is that the police almost always clear each other of brutality charges. It leaves people feeling there is no justice?

Florida Doc wins Round in Police Brutality Case

This one is more for the ladies, I think. :)
There's definitely some love in these pictures of our new first family's wedding and afterwards. I love the picture outside after the wedding.

It is going to be wonderful to watch them grow in their new role. They are a beautiful coupon and a beautiful family.

The Obama Anniversary Album

"Air Force Research Laboratory officials here recently completed an extensive bioeffects research program for an invisible, counter personnel, directed-energy weapon known as the Active Denial System.

Data showed that millimeter waves do not promote cancer or cause reproductive problems, and researchers also defined skin and eye exposure thresholds, as well as levels at which effective repel occurs.

Results demonstrate that the Denial System, or ADS, can be used operationally while maintaining a significant safety margin, thus making the device a landmark nonlethal weapon."

Tazed, blinded, and burnt, the people no longer even tried to protest....

Energy Beams that heat your skin until you run

This was the picture FOx News posted of Obama on their home page after his nomination speech. Anyway, my friends and I thought it was funny. They seem to be portraying him with a halo - and is that a ufo or some sort of spirit orb over his shoulder? What? It is just a light? The light of God? That opens up from the sky and shines down on him?

I noticed that fox took it down pretty quick. Maybe it was not subtle enough for their mind control efforts. haha

What do you think? UFO? Orb? Light from heaven?

Fox News Picture of Obama

Crazies in India have been beatikng, burning and killing 'witches' for a while now - it has been a very serious concern of mine, so I follow what I call 'the burning news' in India.

Wiccan leaders have been yelling and screaming about this sort of extreme religious discrimination resulting in murder and disfigurement for a while now, and have sent envoys to try to educate people about the gentle nature of wicca, in hopes of stemming this abuse.

I was not expecting this to come up tonight. It so concerns me - this is the country we have decided to outsource all our jobs to. What I repeatedly notice, is, that no matter what the religion, it has about always been a woman that they decide to burn.

IMO the US really needs to step up and denounce this sort of violence - yesterday.

[quote]BHUBANESWAR, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Two persons, including a woman, were burned to death, a pastor critically injured and at least a dozen churches torched as anti Christian violence rocked the Indian state of Orissa, officials confirmed Tuesday, August 26.

Orissa's Home Secretary Tarunkanti Mishra told reporters he had received information about the two casualties, as an investigation continued. Earlier on Monday, August 25, news emerged that a nun was raped, a priest beaten and several other Christians missing or injured in the violence.

Monday's violence erupted after a protest against the killing over the weekend of Laxmanananda Saraswati, a leader of the hard-line Hindu organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and at least four of his associates. It was not clear who was responsible for the murders, but militants blamed Christians for the attacks.

A woman, who was not immediately identified, was reportedly burned to death when suspected Hindu militants torched an orphanage run by a Christian organisation at the town of Phutpali in Bargarh District. Twenty children, who were at the orphanage, managed to escape but a pastor suffered serious burn injuries in the attack, BosNewsLife learned.[/quote]

Christian Woman Burned, Churches torched, and Nun Raped in Anti-christian violence in India

The last few years have sent me in a very different direction from the beginning of my adult life. When my son started 3rd grade, a series of events convinced us that I needed to quit work, and homeschool my son.

So now my feminist streak has mellowed a bit to the realization that true freedom for women, should include the right to be a housewife and mother, IF that is what a woman wants to do, and feels she must do.

So that is where I've found myself...mother, cook, housewife, and with that comes....boredom set in a bit, and so did the realization that living on one income could be challenging.

And somehow, I slowly ventured into a new sort of hacking...Retail hacking. It has a simple premise really...how do I get everything...for as little as possible.

It started when we decided we wanted to learn some survivalist tactics. One of the things that everyone recommended was...have a stockpile of food. Well, now I not only have a stockpile of food, but I'm keeping my father and sisters pretty well stocked too, and we're making huge donations to the Salvation Army on a fairly regular basis now.

Here's my the brunt of my method. I will say that I am very lucky to have several stores within 3 miles of my home. That helps! Well, I will try to make this as short and concise as I can, so I'm going to focus on my method, not on my sources. :)

First, you need the largest supply of coupons you can get. I probably get about 35 different free magazines a month just from searching the internet occasionally, looking for free magazines, I search those for free coupons. I also make it a point to get up early on Sundays so I can get the double newspaper for one price - that's twice the coupons. Before Saturday of each week, I search the net to get a list of coupons coming out. Usually on or right at major holidays the newspapers do NOT carry coupons. I also search stores for coupon pads, and I swap coupons and forms with friends. I look for coupons and rebates on line. Basically, I keep my eyes PEELED for coupons. Any coupon. That's important. Yes, sometimes I get things I don't USE - but I do it in order to gain more than I've spent. For instance, a coupon on a glucose monitor, 20.00 off. A store runs a sale, buy same glucose monitor for 20.00, get 20.00 back in register rewards. I just netted a glucose monitor (which I will give away) and 20.00 for whatever tax it cost me. That's why you save THEM ALL. You never know.

Next, I get every sales paper for close by stores each week. I carefully match my coupons WITH the sales. I don't rely on ANY pay site to tell me how to do this, it is quite easy to do yourself. I also consider things like store coupons, REBATES, Satisfaction Guaranteed forms, and rewards programs, such as CVS's extra value bucks, free incentives, like movies, and Walgreen's register rewards.

THEN, you combine these things. For instance, most stores will give you both ... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]