TECH SOFTWARE: Latest Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (7.04)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu704

Latest Ubuntu delivers on the promise of Open Source

While millions consider whether to pay for Vista, the Ubuntu project releases its secure, high performance, free desktop and server editions.

***Begin Quote***

LONDON, April 16, 2007 – For users wanting a secure, feature rich alternative to Microsoft Windows, Canonical Ltd., the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, announced today the Thursday release of Ubuntu version 7.04.

Ubuntu is the award-winning Linux distribution for the desktop, laptop, thin client and server which brings together the best of open source software every 6 months. Ubuntu 7.04 desktop edition includes a ground-breaking Windows migration assistant, excellent wireless networking support and improved multimedia support.

Ubuntu 7.04 server edition adds support for hardware facilities that speed up the use of virtual machines as well as other improved hardware support, making it an excellent choice as a web, database, file and print server, the fastest growing area of Linux server use. Ubuntu’s already outstanding support for thin clients is boosted with advanced print and sound support.

***End Quote***

I can’t wait to try it. Badger was good but no wireless. I’m expecting great things out of this release!


LIBERTY: Cabbies to face fines for refusing fares

Thursday, April 19, 2007

tiny

http://tinyurl.com/2p8oju

MN: Cabbies to face fines for refusing fares
Minneapolis Post-Bulletin

***Begin Quote***

“The operator of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday approved tougher penalties for cabdrivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol — a policy that will affect hundreds of Muslim drivers. On a unanimous voice vote, the Metropolitan Airports Commission agreed to rules that will suspend a driver’s airport taxi license for 30 days the first time the driver refuses service and revokes the license for two years after the second violation. … Some Somalis who testified Monday urged commissioners to reject the new penalties and find some other solution. ‘We see this as a penalty against a group of Americans only for practicing their faith,’ said Hassan Mohamud, an imam — or Islamic religious leader — and an adjunct professor at William Mitchell College of Law.” (04/17/07)

***End Quote***

The problem is the gooferment. Do we really need them at airports telling us which tax to take? Can’t we leave anything to the free market?


GUNS: Hold politicians accountable for “gun free zones”

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55246

The grave danger of ‘gun-free zones’
Posted: April 18, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Charl van Wyk

***Begin Quote***

With lives lost in Germany and the United States in schools that are gun-free zones, and no attacks by armed gunmen in Israel since teachers and parents serving as school aids have been armed, why would we want any area declared a gun-free zone?

History and common sense prove that gun-free zones are dangerous.

***End Quote***

Why can’t we hold politicians that create the Petri dish for these tragedies responsible?


INTERESTING: Dozens massacred in gun free zone

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2007/04/
dozens-massacred-in-gun-free-zone-again.html

http://tinyurl.com/yqp7gy

Monday, April 16, 2007
Dozens massacred in gun free zone. AGAIN!

***Begin Quote***

Once again disarming an entire population of people in one concentrated location has lead to a massacre. A gun free zone is a breeding ground for mass killings.

***End Quote***

Yup, a “gun free zone” equals a “target rich environment”.


MONEY: Get mortgage on your home without you knowing

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

avatar1

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20070418145315AAvRFIm&r=w&pa=
FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMhjJcU3dTz2fL1SGSHVFFKU
ggBa3urpdU4fI94ITlgk9gyKJd5b3ZB2r5nu
_431eRPA–&paid=answered

http://tinyurl.com/2hon64

Can someone take out a mortgage on your home without you knowing?

***Begin Quote***

I got a phone call, left on answering machine, talking about a mortgage. I do not have a mortgage on the home . I am just worried that someone could fraudulently get a mortgage on my home. With people stealing identities how easy would it be?

***End Quote***

Vote for my answer even if you don’t like it?

Seriously, if you like it, vote it up. If not, tell me. I could be wrong. (Not bloody likely but I have to look humble.)

If you think I’m wrong, take a look at this one:

http://www.privacyrights.org/cases/victim30.htm

  yahooanswered.jpg

UPDATE: My answer was voted “best’ and I picked up another 10 Yahoo Answers points. (Hey, I play carnie games and give the tix to little kids. It’s about scoring points!)


RANT: I am SHOCKED that the Guv was doing 91. Shocked!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=
D8OIIO1G1&show_article=1

N.J. Gov.’s SUV Went 91 Mph Before Crash
Apr 17 04:19 PM US/Eastern

*** begin quote ***

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – The SUV carrying Gov. Jon S. Corzine was traveling about 91 mph moments before it crashed, Superintendent of State Police Col. Rick Fuentes said Tuesday.

*** end quote ***

Yeah, five seconds before the crash. Like I believe that. Hearsay evidence on the 1015 radio show disputes that “modest” speed. The caller reported that the other driver in the crash said that “he looked to move over and then they were there”.

What is the top speed of that Suburban?

AND, the real question is why does the political class feel that they are above the laws that they impose on us?

The guv’s security detail is to prevent his assassination and kidnapping. By whom? The republicans? We know that Trenton is one big happy pork fest. For all their moral indignation with the “other side”, we know that the duopoly happily ensure that no one disturbs the feeding at the public trough!

No, I don’t believe their story. And, yes, I think it demonstrates the new “ruling class”.

Pitchforks and torches anyone?


TECH SERVICE: FEEDBLITZ fails me again

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Feedblitz AGAIN skipped over some of my best work!

***Begin Quote***

#1788 2007-04-16 10:55:00 pm
INTERESTING: Who thought the era of big gooferment was over?
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
interesting-who-thought-the-era-of-big-gooferment-was-over/

http://tinyurl.com/2vn8eu

#1787 2007-04-16 10:14:00 pm
RANT: Sharpton is a professional race card player
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
rant-sharpton-is-a-professional-race-card-player/

http://tinyurl.com/2v8mxd

#1786 2007-04-16 8:45:00 pm
LIBERTY: BATF routinely perjures itself!
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
guns-batf-routinely-perjures-itself/

http://tinyurl.com/2etn35

#1784 2007-04-16 6:36:00 pm
INTERESTING: Digital Notary feedback (THREE)
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
interesting-digital-notary-feedback-2/

http://tinyurl.com/39w3hc

#1783 2007-04-16 6:33:00 pm
INTERESTING: Digital Notary feedback (TWO)
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
interesting-digital-notary-feedback/

http://tinyurl.com/3avup9

#1790 2007-04-16 5:56:27 pm
GUNS: Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill 31JAN06
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
guns-virginia-tech-spokesman-larry-hincker-was-happy-to-hear-the-bill-31jan06/

http://tinyurl.com/2ht5qt

#1785 2007-04-16 5:39:00 pm
INTERESTING: Digital Notary feedback (ONE)
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
interesting-digital-notary-feedback-3/

http://tinyurl.com/2qglte

#1789 2007-04-16 5:09:35 pm
GUNS: At VaTech, the lack of any meaningful self-defense response is stunning
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
guns-at-vatech-the-lack-of-any-meaningful-
self-defense-response-is-stunning/

http://tinyurl.com/25zgmd

#1782 2007-04-16 5:08:00 pm
LIBERTY: Ahh only the gooferment can “do” roads
https://reinkefj.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/
liberty-ahh-only-the-gooferment-can-do-roads/

http://tinyurl.com/2e9l3r

***End Quote***

Argh!

Thanks to the reader who called it to my attention.

Bottom line, if you don’t get a email summarizing every day, you should suspect FEEDBLITZ not me. I have opinions, ideas, and “news” everyday. ;-)


GUNS: Aftermath Of Tragedy: GOA Defending Freedom

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

***Begin Quote***

Aftermath Of Tragedy: GOA Defending Freedom

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Our hearts and prayers truly go out to all of those affected by Cho Seung-Hui’s evil actions. But not even senseless, brutal murder justifies taking away the God-given rights of the law-abiding.

It is also worthwhile to note that Virginia Tech is — because of deliberate policies set by its administration — a victim disarmament zone, where even those with a state-issued concealed carry permit are denied their right of self-defense.

In fact, pro-gun forces just last year tried to get the Virginia legislature to address the problem. The bill to allow permit holders to carry on state-supported college campuses died, due in no small part to rabid opposition from Virginia Tech itself.

VT spokesman Larry Hincker put it this way after it became obvious that the bill would not pass: “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”

The unfortunate irony continues when one recalls that not long ago, two students at nearby Appalachian School of Law managed to stop a gunman at that institution. Happily, they were able to dash off-campus to retrieve their guns from their vehicles.

Four GOA spokesmen (one based in downtown D.C. and three at our Springfield, VA office just outside the Beltway) are working non-stop
— doing literally interview after interview — making certain that the above points reach the public.

GOA has appeared on Fox News, ABC, CNN, BBC — lots of alphabet soup networks — as well as countless talk shows like Michael Reagan and Lars Larson. GOA spokesmen have been heard in every major radio market around the country and have done interviews with large print media outlets, such as the Associated Press and U.S. News & World Report.

The overall message that GOA is delivering is that gun prohibitions are part of the problem, not the solution.

We can expect some forms of new gun control to be pushed in the U.S.
Congress. The Democrats control Congress, but more importantly, anti-gun politicians control the Democrat party. If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — certainly no friend of gun owners — gives free rein to virulently anti-gun House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), literally anything can make it to the floor of the full House.

Conyers’ counterpart in the Senate is Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), whose GOA rating of “F” is well-deserved. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has also earned an F. Gun owners will have to be especially vigilant in the coming weeks to block any new attempts to infringe upon the Second Amendment.

And whereas the predictable media stampede to give voice to the possibility of such new gun control is certainly there, it does not seem to have the same “this simply must happen now” tone that it did after the Columbine tragedy in 1999. Indeed, the idea of firearms for self-defense in schools is gaining serious traction. Which should not be all that surprising, given a Research 2000 poll which showed that 85% of Americans find it appropriate for a principal or teacher to use “a gun at school to defend the lives of students” in stopping a massacre.

ACTION: For now, stay tuned for future alerts. (If any anti-gun bills start moving on Capitol Hill, GOA will be counting on you to contact your legislators in record numbers.) And pray for all of those whose loved ones were injured or killed at Virginia Tech.

****************************

To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm on the web. Change of e-mail address may also be made at that location.

Problems, questions or comments? The main GOA e-mail address goamail@gunowners.org is at your disposal. Please do not add that address to distribution lists sending more than ten messages per week or lists associated with issues other than gun rights.

***End Quote***

text


INTERESTING: Rosie on the view doesn’t like politicians of either party

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

She was clearly upset by the VT shootings, as we all are, and she did blurt out some “facts” about guns that were just wrong. But she did put the onus on the College Administration and Police for poor performance. I’ll see if I can find, and refute, her exact statements,


GUNS: There is an ABSOLUTE right to self-defense

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?
blogID=31420020&postID=4072669776502897780

http://tinyurl.com/yvrxgy

Is it right to bear arms?
from Jonathan in NYC by Jonathan Morales

***Begin Quote***

CNN”s Jim Cafferty was just speaking to Wolf Blitzer about the Virginia Tech shooting. He said that he’s noticed that this seems to be a genuinely American phenomenon (mass shootings) and can’t recall many times it is happened in other countries. He then said he couldn’t figure out what that was.

Really, Jim? Maybe it’s because we’re one of the only Western countries to still allow ordinary citizens to carry weapons, and the NRA and Republicans continue to block any legislation to prevent semi-automatic and automatic weapons from being obtained by people who plan to go out and kill 32 people in one morning.

***End Quote***

Well, of course, I had to put my two cents in.

*** begin quote ***

Perhaps you might wonder why no one on the VT campus had an appropriate tool to stop the situation. I know it is easy to blame the tool. Shooter has his; victims didn’t. And, we all wish that peace and happiness would reign. But, it’s a dangerous world out there and wishing it wasn’t won’t make it so. The dead old white guys recognized the RIGHT of every individual to defend themselves. Except the VT-ers wanted to live in a fairy tale land. One of their admins the year before vigorously opposed recognizing that right on the VT campus. He won. And this is the result. Anyone interviewing him today? One concealed carry permit holder — a student, a faculty member, a custodian — could have probably ended this in seconds. One shooter can’t watch all 31 people simultaneously. It’s a tragedy. But, not unexpected. And, unfortunately not the last.

*** end quote ***

I didn’t pick up on the tired old “automatic” weapon argument. Automatic weapons are for the most part effectively outlawed. Besides which they are what I call “movie weapons”. They come from the misimpression fostered by the movies that you “spray and pray”.

I’d suggest that you have to be more afraid of someone with a long gun than a pistol. Most people can’t hit what they aim at with a pistol unless they are practiced marksmen. The joke around the range is “if you can’t spit on it, then most can’t hit it”. Look at the infamous police shootings 50 shots to get one or two hits.

You have an ABSOLUTE right to your life. That translates to an absolute right to defend yourself.

The police are nice long after the action. They are for the most part report writers, traffic directors, and on rare occasions actual catch a bad guy.

No fault of theirs. They can possibly be at the scene unless there is an incredible coincidence.

Each of us has to defend each other. An armed society is a polite society. We all have to be allowed to have our “pocket knives”. If we choose to pack “heat”. Sprinkle a few Conceal Carry Permits around on that campus and you would have had a completely different outcome. Even a madman, who wants to “get” certain people, has to fear that some non-descript girl or janitor or teacher or nerd will prevent it.

When will we wake up to life as it is. Not as we want it to be.


INTERESTING: Who thought the era of big gooferment was over?

Monday, April 16, 2007

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0416/p01s04-usec.html

USA > Economy
from the April 16, 2007 edition
As US tax rates drop, government’s reach grows
Study: 1 in 2 Americans now receives income from government programs.
By Mark Trumbull | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

***Begin Quote***

Maybe the era of big government isn’t over, after all.

As Americans finish their annual tax-filing flurry to meet a Tuesday deadline, it is true that tax rates are lower than they were a few years ago. But according to a different yardstick, the federal government’s reach is expanding.

Slightly over half of all Americans – 52.6 percent – now receive significant income from government programs, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J. That’s up from 49.4 percent in 2000 and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950. If the trend continues, the percentage could rise within ten years to pass 55 percent, where it stood in 1980 on the eve of President’s Reagan’s move to scale back the size of government.

***End Quote***

Certainly not me!

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over lousy fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world’s great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage.”
Alexander Fraser Tyler, Cycle of Democracy (1770)

Have we reached the point where we are in bondage to the others on the dole?

Finished your income tax? Had your savings inflated away? Done what your betters tell you to do — put on that seat belt, pay the required fees, bow in subservience to the political class.

Argh!


RANT: Sharpton is a professional race card player

Monday, April 16, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/lelong4.html

Imus and the Nappy-Headed Ho’s
by A.D Lelong

*** begin quote ***

But with Rev. Sharpton it’s different. He IS offended. Would he have been offended if Imus had called some Wisconsin women’s basketball team (assuming they were of Scandinavian descent) “Cheese headed Viking Amazons”? Would The Rev. Al Sharpton have been in high dudgeon had Imus referred to a Boston Jesuit College women’s basketball team by saying, “a bunch of freckled, whiskey drinking bricktop sluts”? I don’t think so. And most Americans of Norse or Irish decent wouldn’t have either. Maybe a couple church groups, here and there, but this would not have become a national hot issue.

What is really at issue here is that Sharpton is a professional race card player. It is his stock in trade. It is the only real vocation he ever had. It has made him good copy in the NYC and national media. He can get reporters to show up at a press conference. And he knows how to use the media to bully his victims.

Now I don’t begrudge a mountebank from earning his daily bread, but when I see Rev. Al talk about using the FCC to get Imus fired for doing his puerile shtick, this has serious ramifications for free speech. Sharpton said (and I’m paraphrasing) that we own the air waves and have a right to remove someone who abuses his position. Actually, “we” don’t own the air waves. There are no stock certificates in air wave frequencies. They have been usurped by the government starting with the Radio Act of 1912 after the Titanic sinking. Radio licenses are in effect government rented easements, like feudal lease-hold estates. They can be rescinded just like a king could revoke a writ of title from an earl. The radio stations own them as a peer owns his title.

The mere hint of a threat of losing a license terrifies ALL radio station license holders. And given that most license holders are corporations controlled by an unthinking collective of conformist non-intellectual executives, without regard to principle or rational thought, a Sharpton figure has a chilling effect on free expression by the talk-host employee. Sharpton has a radio show on a station here in NYC. Did he lose his time-slot when he referred to White business owners in Harlem as “white interlopers” after the Freddy’s department store fire on 125th street 12 years ago when a black gunman shot up and torched the store killing 8 in protest because the white owner did not hire enough blacks? Was Sharpton punished when he failed to distance himself from Jesse Jackson and his “Hymietown” remark? Or the Tawana Brawley hoax? Or when he called the Central Park jogger, beaten almost to death and brain damaged, a “whore”?

*** end quote ***

I have a feeling that the whole Imus affair is going to have some interesting ramifications. Perhaps, the USA will wake up to the fact they are being manipulated.


LIBERTY: BATF routinely perjures itself!

Monday, April 16, 2007

http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt

***Begin Quote***

As has been reported elsewhere,http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/rip/index.html the NFRTR has been in deplorable condition for some time. Many registration documents have been lost by ATFE, and some were even willfully destroyed by ATFE contract employees in a well documented case. Furthermore, the electronic database that serves as the authoritative Registry is known to have serious flaws and inconsistencies. Due to various political and financial issues, the ATFE has been slow to rectify these problems with the NFRTR (although the pace seems to have picked up since a recent wholesale relocation and restaffing of the NFA Branch). Thomas Busey, who was the Chief of the NFA Branch for a period in the 1990s, admitted in a videotaped training session in 1995 that the NFRTR had a 49-50% error rate. Mr. Busey also stated in this session, “Let me say when we testify in court, we testify that the data base is 100 percent accurate. That’s what we testify to, and we will always testify to that. As you probably well know, that may not be 100 percent true.”

In a 1998 letter to Chairman Dan Burton of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/rip/leasure_letter_re_nfa_destruction.txt pursuant to a conviction based on flawed NFRTR information, David Montague, an attorney for the defendant (whose convictions were previously overturned) wrote: “To make matters worse, Mr. Busey was summarily fired and the transcript of his remarks hushed up. His remarks did not become known to the world until obtained on an FOIA request from attorney James Jeffries, III, of Greensboro, N.C.”

Given the steep penalties for mere possession of an unregistered firearm regulated under the NFA (minimum sentence: up to 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of $10,000 for each violation), there is a high RISK to lawful transferees associated with the poor condition of the NFRTR brought about by neglect and/or willful violation of the law by the government agency charged with upholding this law.

***End Quote***

Did I read this correctly? Did the fellow just admit that the BATF routinely commits perjury in ALL trials of gun law violations? That’s going some even for the Gooferment.


INTERESTING: Digital Notary feedback (THREE)

Monday, April 16, 2007

***Begin Quote***

From: Frederick Roeber
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: On “proving NON copyright infringement” (Re: Dellinger, RISKS-24.61)

Bell Labs used to have a system like this. I read about it a couple decades ago on usenet– (comp.dcom.telecom? sci.crypt?
alt.folklore.computers?) — but I’ve never since been able to dig up much reference to it.

Basically, you’d send it files (or perhaps cryptographic hashes, if you wanted to keep your document secure), and it’d keep a log, and build up a rolling hash. Every week, the resulting hash would be published in a classified ad in the New York Times. (There was an amusing bit about how they had to talk the NYT into accepting the ads; the paper was afraid they were doing something Bad with encrypted
communication.)

If a question ever came up, they’d be able to re-run that week’s hash and compare the results; this would certify the document in question to at least within that week, and if you believed the independence of the other users of the system you could bracket the time much more closely.

Frederick.

***End Quote***

Hmmm, never heard of that.


INTERESTING: Digital Notary feedback (TWO)

Monday, April 16, 2007

***Begin Quote***

From: Jeremy Epstein
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 6:14 PM
To: RISKS List Owner
Cc: r @ reinke
Subject: notsp: Re: On “proving NON copyright infringement”

The concept of a digital notary as proposed by Ferdinand Reinke already exists commercially in a similar form: Surety <www.surety.com> will basically do what you’re asking for. You can either give them the document/web page to sign, or you can give them a hash and they’ll sign it. They publish a summary weekly in the New York Times, so it’s open for public inspection (at least so long as there are archives of the New York Times). [This is obviously a summary of what they do – I don’t want this to be an advertisement!]

I have nothing to do with Surety, other than thinking they’ve got an interesting solution to a difficult problem.

***End Quote***

One feedback with an existing solution.

text


GUNS: Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill 31JAN06

Monday, April 16, 2007

>Subject: VA-ALERT: Not mad enough about VT? Read this!
>
> From January 31, 2006:
>
>”House Bill 1572 didn’t get through the House Committee on Militia,
>Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage,
>the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.
>
>…
>
>Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was
>defeated. “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the
>General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students,
>faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”
>
>–
>
>Well, Mr. Hincker – are you still happy? Militia, Police, and Public
>Safety Committee – still think you did the right thing?
>
>–
>
>http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658
>
>Gun bill gets shot down by panel
>HB 1572, which would have allowed handguns on college campuses, died
>in subcommittee.
>
>By Greg Esposito
> 381-1675
>
>A bill that would have given college students and employees the right
>to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the
>General Assembly.
>
>House Bill 1572 didn’t get through the House Committee on Militia,
>Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage,
>the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.
>
>The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on
>behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Gilbert was
>unavailable Monday and spokesman Gary Frink would not comment on the
>bill’s defeat other than to say the issue was dead for this General
>Assembly session.
>
>Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was
>defeated. “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the
>General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students,
>faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”
>
>Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, would not comment Monday because
>he was not part of the subcommittee that discussed the bill.
>
>Most universities in Virginia require students and employees, other
>than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon
>entering campus. The legislation was designed to prohibit public
>universities from making “rules or regulations limiting or abridging
>the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun
>permit … from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun.”
>
>The legislation allowed for exceptions for participants in athletic
>events, storage of guns in residence halls and military training
>programs.
>
>Last spring a Virginia Tech student was disciplined for bringing a
>handgun to class, despite having a concealed handgun permit. Some gun
>owners questioned the university’s authority, while the Virginia
>Association of Chiefs of Police came out against the presence of guns
>on campus.
>
>In June, Tech’s governing board approved a violence prevention policy
>reiterating its ban on students or employees carrying guns and
>prohibiting visitors from bringing them into campus facilities.
>
>***************************************************************************
>VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL).
>VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to
>defending the human rights of all Virginians. The membership considers the
>Right to Keep and Bear Arms to be an essential human right.
>
> VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org
>***************************************************************************


INTERESTING: Digital Notary feedback (ONE)

Monday, April 16, 2007

***Begin Quote***

From: James P. Howard, II http://jameshoward.us
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:54 AM
Subject: digital notary mentioned on RISKS

I created something like this a while ago:

http://jameshoward.us/robot-dsa

James

***End Quote***

Oh well, guess I won’t need the empty checkbook. Sigh! Yeah, I know don’t quit you day job!


GUNS: At VaTech, the lack of any meaningful self-defense response is stunning

Monday, April 16, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2007-04-16_D8OHUVH00&show_article=1&cat=breaking

http://tinyurl.com/2hoqbs

Gunman, 32 Others Killed in Va. Shooting
Apr 16 05:49 PM US/Eastern
By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer

***Begin Quote***

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, shot up a classroom building across campus Monday, killing 32 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. The gunman committed suicide, bringing the death toll to 33.

Students bitterly complained that there were no public-address announcements on campus after the first burst of gunfire. Many said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours into the rampage—around the time the gunman struck again.

***End Quote***

How many people have to die before we realize that the problem is large concentrations of unarmed victims just waiting to be slaughtered?

The lack of any meaningful self-defense response is stunning.

You can’t tell me that we can’t trust young people to know when their lives are at risk. What about the campus security, teachers, and the janitors.

Like Columbine, one concealed carry permit could have made this a better ending.

Maybe when the Final Judgment comes, then the lions will lie down with the lambs. But for now, I’d like to sprinkle a goodly number of sheep dogs in amongst all the sheep.


LIBERTY: Ahh only the gooferment can “do” roads

Monday, April 16, 2007

http://www.nj.gov/roads.shtml

NEW JERSEY ROAD CLOSURE REPORT

***Begin Quote***

{Lots of Data Extraneous Deleted}

Rt. 1 & 9 N&S MP 58.35, N. Bergen Twp., Hudson Co., All lanes closed

{Lots more data Extraneous Deleted}

***End Quote***

Roads are often described as the “third rail” of Libertarians because people can’t conceive of private roads. As if no one has ever been to DisneyWorld, DisneyLand, or other amusement parks. Or, as if no one has ever been in a gated community.

I think that roads are a great example of the gooferment at work. As an injineer, it amuses me that the Gooferment would build a road and not take into account weather in the design.

Amazing as is sounds, Disney World doesn’t have flooded roads into their park. How did they do that? I bet they grabbed the design engineer by the throat (or any other suitable part of the body) and said “we want the turnstiles turning regardless of weather”. To which the design engineer said “No Problem, Mister Disney, sir. We have this novel concept of “drainage”. We just guesstimate the average rainfall, move the decimal one position to right, and allow for that amount of water. If you want, we can move two places but that would cost you Big Bucks and is twice the amount of rain in a monsoon. OK?”.

Yup, private roads might be the “third rail”, but the Gooferment’s performance is up to its usual standard — down right terrible.

I had to laugh at the State Road Guy on the radio saying that “they just had to allow the roads to drain naturally”. Argh! It’s not his fault that the road designer made every exit ramp dip below sea level.

And, no one takes a spear for it.

On Wall Street, Disney World, or any organization seeking to make a profit, there would be some one held to account. With the Gooferment’s roads, it’s just the taxpayer who gets stuck.

Stuck, and stuck, and stuck!


INTERESTING: I made RISKS again!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

I MADE RISKS AGAIN. (Maybe Peter is getting soft in his old age. Or my humor is growing on him!)

http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt

Subject: Risks Digest 24.63
RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Sunday 15 April 2007 Volume 24 : Issue 63
ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)
Peter G. Neumann, moderator, chmn ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

——————————

Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 09:50:17 -0400
From: “r @ reinke”
Subject: On “proving NON copyright infringement” (Re: Dellinger, RISKS-24.61)

This sounds like a case for “watermarking”, “stenography”, or a good old fashioned notary?

I am surprised that the concept of a “digital notary” has not taken off for just such situations. (Maybe there’s a web20 application for me make into the next google? I could be rich! And, get a life, instead of reading ezines, blogging, and commenting.) Maybe it has and I just haven’t heard of it!

While the Internet Archive is a good idea, one has to wonder if push came to shove (i.e., think RIAA as the model for a Pyrrhic victory) if that would be acceptable evidence in a legal proceeding.

I’d envision the digital notary as a website that:

CASE#1 — takes an url, “photographs” it, computes a digital signature, saves and encrypted copy, sends you a receipt, and publishes the checksums. The disadvantage is that you have exposed your content on the web.

CASE#2 — takes anything you send it and do the same. The disadvantage is you’ve shown it to a nosy notary like me.

CASE#3 — takes a file from you that you want to keep secret and “seals” it as well in a similar fashion.

[NOTE: I need two key pairs. Call them FERDINAND and REINKE. I’d envision that I’d take my secret treasure map (MAP) to the Lost Treasure of the Sierra Madre and encrypt it with my REINKE private key. WORK1=ENCRYPT(MAP,REINKEPRIVATE) Anyone who had that file could read the map
using REINKEPUBLIC. Then, I’d encrypt it with my FERDINAND private key. WORK2=(WORK1,FERDINANDPRIVATE) Anyone who had this file would know there was a file and it was mine by using FERDINANDPUBLIC. Then, WORK2 goes to the notary. The notary decrypts WORK2 with FERDINANDPUBLIC, and ENCRYPTS with NOTARYPRIVATE and returns it to me. Then, since I am getting old I promptly forget all my passwords, lose the keys, and the LOST TREASURE stays lost.]

The digital notary would seem to be a useful service for such disputes.

Now all I need is a PowerPoint deck and some VCs. And a spare checkbook to put all the money in.

Ferdinand J. Reinke, Kendall Park, NJ 08824

——————————


XPfails – luggable – Recovery?

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Well, dodged a bullet today. (Maybe?)

The registry was reported corrupt and the pig won’t boot. Repair didn’t.

Argh!

I had tried the rescue disk that came with the platform from Dell. It didn’t do anything good for me.

So I dusted off one of my XP installation disks and ran “repair” using that. It threw the box up into checkdisk, which ran. Didn’t report any errors. May or may not have fixed anything. But it did then allow the box to boot into WXP. (Yeah!)

On the theory that this might be my last chance to visit with my data. I pulled out my WDDRIVE with WDSYNC on it and took a back up. (I usually do my weekly backups on Monday!)

Now, I fearlessly did a cold restart.

That worked but it wasn’t not connecting to the home lan. I tried using WXP, the Intel ProSet Wireless utility, and the VWBBIE (Verizon Wireless Broadband utility also manages the WiFi). Nothing worked.

Argh! Squared!

So I power cycled everything in sight. Ran the Intel Wireless debugger.

Couldn’t think of anything else to do, so on a hunch, I changed the WiFi SSID. Shouldn’t have made any difference. Changed the password as well. (Big deal. Any script kiddie can bust this “security”!)

Disabled PGP. Disabled ZoneAlarm.

Power cycle everything.

Argh! Tripled!

Verified that the BackRoom DELLDESK could connect thru the wifi router to the net. Verified that the OLDDELL notebook could get to the net via the wireless.

So it made me focus on the LUGGABLE as the problem.

Deleted all the Intel configurations. Went to the DELLDESK, changed the SSID and password again. Rebooted the router. Power cycled everything in sight again. And then readded the Intel configurations.

And, voila, the pig put on its roller skates and took off!

So, that wasted a Sunday. Sigh.


JOBSEARCH: World Revolves Around Me

Sunday, April 15, 2007

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/
contribEditorPost.html?post=16

http://tinyurl.com/27zo7q

The Savvy Networker
Liz Ryan
The Case of the Pushy Lady

Liz Ryan is a 25-year HR veteran, former Fortune 500 VP and an internationally recognized expert on careers and the new millennium workplace. She is the author of “Happy About Online Networking,” creator of the Career Bound workshop, and founder of the global women’s organization formerly known as WorldWIT.

***Begin Quote***

My eighth-grader daughter refers to certain people in her social group as “maybe a little WRAM.” What does WRAM mean? I asked her. It’s an acronym, she said: it stands for World Revolves Around Me. There are a few networkers I could affix that label to without much trouble. Don’t be one of them: networking is supposed to be a two-way street, and the more you focus on helping your fellow networkers, the more good things will come back to you — trust me.

***End Quote***

You can avoid the WRAM objection bu anticipating the question that anyone will ask WIIIFM (what is in it for me). Just like on the resume, your advertisement FOR a job, no one wants to hear YOUR objective. They want to hear how you will satisfy THEIR objectives.

So you turn WRAM into WRAY. The world revolves around YOU!


XPFAILS – LUGGABLE: Catastrophic error

Sunday, April 15, 2007

The registry reports corruption. The pig won’t boot. Repair doesn’t. Argh! Operating from old desktop. Standby for news.


JOBSEARCH: JL Kirk down the chute

Saturday, April 14, 2007

http://www.making-ripples.com/2007/04/clueless_law_fi.html

04/12/2007
Clueless law firm takes client JL Kirk down the chute

***Begin Quote***

JL Kirk is the kind of executive recruiting firm I would warn readers to avoid at any costs. Their operating procedure is to interview you and charge you thousands of dollars and help you write a resume and then hopefully place you. You pay first and then hope that they place you. Wow! Isn’t that a great business model?

***End Quote***

The reported 4.5k$ demanded for “placement assistance” is a joke. You probably could “buy” the best resume writer’s first born child at those prices. Heck, big old turkeys are available at one tenth the price. Hard to believe that after not making the “sale”, the bozos got lawyers involved.

My bet is that this will be like gasoline on a wildfire across the net.


JOBSEARCH: Then write a book

Saturday, April 14, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north524.html

Misunderstanding Higher Education
by Gary North

***Begin Quote***

WRITE YOUR WAY IN

If you are not good enough to write your way into your calling, then you need to read more. Then you need to write more.

Start a blog. It’s free. Start here.

You can create a website after you have mastered blogging.

Begin with posting book reviews. Then, after a hundred or two hundred published book reviews, start writing annotated bibliographies.

Once you have put a large number of reviews on-line, start specializing in one topic. Create another blog site. Keep up to date with whatever is going on inside this field. Do handy summaries of the latest publications.

Save readers time. People want to save time. They want others to do their leg work for them. Word will get out if you’re any good.

Then write a book. It need not be creative. It can merely introduce newcomers to a field. Post it on your blog site for free in PDF format.

Make copies available in printed format by using Print on Demand technology. If you can get sales, a third-party publisher may pick it up.

The book becomes a calling card in your career plan.

Then write another. Write enough books in a field, and you will establish your reputation. Even self-published books are impressive to a prospective employer.

Add CD-ROMs, screencasts on YouTube, and DVDs.

This was how I made my reputation. I started writing for The Freeman magazine and a dozen other magazines to put myself through graduate school. My Freeman articles got me my first full-time job: at the Foundation for Economic Education, which published The Freeman.

My Ph.D. degree got me nothing. I never had a single job offer based on my degree. I even wrote my way into the one full-time academic job I ever had. It was in a different field from my degree.

***End Quote***

Here’s a road map that really makes sense. I’d recommend the strategy to all the complacent “paycheck drawers” out there. Use your “breathing room” to “become” a recognized expert. It can’t hurt.

As a side note: I still remember the one fellow who interviewed with me for a job and left me a copy of his book on the topic we were looking for help with. He didn’t take our offer; he took a much higher one. I have never forgotten the impact of that tactic. I’m planning to use it next time I am out. I hope to have 4 choices by the time the axe falls. AND, it always does.


RANT:Taxation is really “voluntary”? Yeah right!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard148.html

 

Tax Day
by Murray N. Rothbard

This unsigned editorial, written by Murray N. Rothbard, appeared in the April 15, 1969 issue of The Libertarian (soon to become The Libertarian Forum).

*** begin quote ***

April 15, that dread Income Tax day, is around again, and gives us a chance to ruminate on the nature of taxes and of the government itself.

The first great lesson to learn about taxation is that taxation is simply robbery. No more and no less. For what is “robbery”? Robbery is the taking of a man’s property by the use of violence or the threat thereof, and therefore without the victim’s consent. And yet what else is taxation?

Those who claim that taxation is, in some mystical sense, really “voluntary” should then have no qualms about getting rid of that vital feature of the law which says that failure to pay one’s taxes is criminal and subject to appropriate penalty.

*** end quote ***

It’s humorous that the gang in the District of Corruption slide the due date to the 17th. Couldn’t have taxes due on Emancipation Day! Might as well as have it on Independence Day! Or, how about Election Day!! No secret why it’s 6 months away from election day. So people will forget. And, they do.

I’m crazed!