TECHNOLOGY: APPLE is enforcing its headlock on “their” hardware

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/15/ibooks-1-2-1-detects-some-jailbreaks-disables-ibookstore-purchases-in-response/

*** begin quote ***

Users of devices jailbroken by one of the methods that allows Apple’s test binaries to successfully run who attempt to open content purchased from the iBookstore are met with the following error message:

There is a problem with the configuration of your iPhone. Please restore with iTunes and reinstall iBooks.

Restoring a device from iTunes obviously removes the jailbreak, again rendering the device in compliance with Apple’s standards.

Apple’s tactics are of course drawing some scrutiny from jailbreak fans, many of whom are pointing to recent actions by the U.S. government to explicitly allow jailbreaking. Consequently, Apple’s move to prevent access to legitimately purchased iBookstore content just because the user attempts to view it on a jailbroken device is seen as interference with legal usage.

*** end quote ***

Now, I remember why I didn’t like LOTUS. And, why I shouldn’t like APPLE.

DRM!

APPLE sells me some hardware and dares me to use it.

Henceforth and forever more, all APPLE hardware is, be definition, “NOT RECOMMENDED”. Windoze may be “bad”, but at least you can be “OPEN”!

On to Linux!!!

# # # # #


GOLD: The poor man’s gold investment

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/02/the_nitty_gritty_on_nickels.html

*** begin quote ***

$300 face value (150 rolls @$2 face value per roll) fit easily fit in a standard U.S. Postal Service Medium Flat Rate Box, and that weighs about 68 pounds.) They can be mailed from coast to coast for less than $25. Doing so will take a bit of reinforcement. Given enough wraps of strapping tape, a corrugated box will securely transport $300 worth of Nickels

*** end quote ***

Everyone will laugh at “investing” in nickels, but he who laffs last …

Today, pre-64 silver coins command a 20 times face value. And, that’s what you get retail.

2011 – 1964 = 47 years

20x = 2000%

2000 / 47 = 42% roi

There is NO reason to think that nickels won’t have a similar experience.

Like the author says, the only the things that are certain in life are death, taxes, and inflation!

In fifty years, you’ll be saying “Shoulda, coulda, and woulda! if I’d a listened to that crazy fat old white guy injineer, I’d be rich.” I will be dealing with other problems when you say, so I will be unavailable to say “I told you so.”

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RANT: Gooferment abuses its power

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41372870

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2011/02/immigration-officer-puts-wife-on-the-no-fly-list.html or http://tinyurl.com/4qghpxg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351937/Immigration-officer-fired-putting-wife-list-terrorists-stop-flying-home.html

http://tinyurl.com/67ofkgo

*** begin quote ***

A UK immigration officer decided to get rid of his wife by putting her on the no-fly list, ensuring that she could not return to the UK from abroad. This worked for three years, until he put in for a promotion and — during the routine background check — someone investigated why his wife was on the no-fly list.

Okay, so he’s an idiot. And a bastard. But the real piece of news here is how easy it is for a UK immigration officer to put someone on the no-fly list with *absolutely no evidence* that that person belongs there. And how little auditing is done on that list. Once someone is on, they’re on for good.

That’s simply no way to run a free country.

*** end quote ***

Gooferment just does stuff. No appeal. No checking. No oversight.

There’s a reason that the judicial systems requires a battle of adversaries to determine the truth.

Where’s the “Appeal to God” when you need it? You know like in the movie “Ivanhoe”.

# # # # #


MACBOOKAIR: Fails to restart from sleep

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Don’t think I lost anything. No obvious error message. Send report to Apple.

Argh!

# # # # #


DATA: Open Gooferment data in New Hampshire

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/02/08/0112246/New-Hampshire-Begins-Open-Data-Efforts

*** begin quote ***

Now, with over a dozen Free Staters elected to the NH legislature, these geeks are starting to affect government data-sharing policy.

*** end quote ***

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/new-hampshire-opens-its-states-legislative-data

*** begin quote ***

Chalk up a new one for the open-government-data geeks.

In the past few days, New Hampshire’s General Court, as the state legislature is officially known, started releasing data on legislation and legislators in nerd-friendly, “pipe-separated” files, uploaded daily. In non-geek speak, this means the data is presented in a way that any competent web developer can easily process for use in an application or a researcher can feed into a database system to explore.

*** end quote ***

Seems like the “crazy Free state Project members” are making a change that was completely unexpected.

They are cracking the Gooferment data open like a dropped Chinese porcelain urn.

Imagine that people are actually interested in what the Gooferment is up to.

“Very interested”!

Now we just need to make the Gooferment switch to free Open Source Software and save some money.

# # # # #


TECHNOLOGY: Serendipity! I get to watch a red light camera from wife’s ICU room

Monday, February 14, 2011

I find the Universe has a sense of humor.

In observing the Red Light Camera by Saint Peter’s University Hospital, I think it’s “unacceptable”.

I don’t have a stop watch to determine the timing.

Some folks obviously enter the intersection on red and it ain’t even close. Other’s not so clear.

If a car is in the intersection to make a left turn, and the light goes red, sometimes it “fires”.

If a car yields to a light’s ‘n’ sirens ambulance while in the intersection, it fires?

If a pedestrian interrupts some poor slob making a legal right or left, and he’s caught in the intersection, it fires.

To do a good study, we need to mark the pavement with what I’d call the 25mph line. If a poor slob is doing 25mphs, how much distance does the yellow give him to stop. I can’t tell with out some tools: radar gun; pavement markings; and a stop watch.

If the Old Lady is stuck in the ICU long, maybe I’ll have time to do a real study.

Make a movie?

Yeah, I have too much time on my hands.

# # # # #


TECHNOLOGY: Red light camera as like an ATM to the Gooferment

Monday, February 14, 2011

http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/07/more-fights-over-red-light-cam

More Fights Over Red Light Cameras
Radley Balko | February 7, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Actually, the argument is that there’s good evidence showing that lengthening yellow times is a far better way to prevent intersection accidents than red light cameras. It’s more effective, and doesn’t come with the creepy surveillance state vibe. Somehow, that doesn’t seem as appealing a policy to city governments. Another reason we critics have impugned the motives of public officials is that several cities have been caught shortening yellow times at intersections after they’ve been outfitted with cameras. That would seem to be a pretty good indication of a government that values revenue more than safety.

*** end quote ***

Yes, cash-strapped jurisdiction would have a very good motivation to install the camera and then shorten the yellow.

See the Gooferment can’t be both a participant in the game and the game’s referee.

Any illusion that there is a difference between the supposed three branches of Gooferment is just a corrupt illusion.

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ADMINISTRIVIA: Happy Saint V’s Day

Monday, February 14, 2011

After a weekend of mostly “altered mental status” — with unexplained causes, and after the innumerable transports of Frau Reinke to the toilet, I returned her to the comfort of her recliner. She couldn’t get comfortable. In a raspy strained voice struggling for breath, she said: “I have to get fresh air. I have to stand up.” So for the innumerable plus one time, I helped her to stand. I doing most of the lifting. “Just stand here” was her quiet words as she tightened her grip around my neck and held me close. Like one of the many slow “dances” we shared forty plus years ago. Until her legs tired out, she said “thanks”, and I placed her back in the recliner. Where she promptly was sound asleep. And, I was energized for the innumerable plus two times to come. Happy Valentine’s Day.

# # # # # posted 2011-02-14 02:11


NETWORK: “In the same way”? Not Quite

Sunday, February 13, 2011

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/ipv6-marks-next-chapter-in-history-of.html

IPv6 marks the next chapter in the history of the Internet
2/03/2011 01:39:00 PM

*** begin quote ***

In the same way your phone is associated with a unique number, your computer is assigned a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address when you connect to the Internet. The current protocol, IPv4, allows for approximately 4 billion unique addresses—and that number is about to run out.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, not really.

I’ve had the same home phone number for more than three decades. Thru three PSPs (Phone Service Providers).

ISPs play all sorts of games with “my” IP address. Not to mention that I have wifi router that automagically “counterfeits” the mac addresses to allow me to “fool” the ISPs network.

Argh!

It’s more imprecise language that encourages fuzzy thinking.

We really have two different kinds of internet. An internet of things controlled by the manufacturers with mac addresses and the internet of people controlled by the ISPs.

We can say that the IPV4 problem is an ISP problem; not a User problem.

Certainly, not MY problem. I get nothing out of it.

I’m more interested in mesh networks and P2PDNS.

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FUN: Vote Betty White as the new Wonder Woman

Saturday, February 12, 2011

http://www.tvguide.com/photogallery/wonder-woman-cast-1029055

Photo GalleriesWonder Woman: Who Should Be Cast?

Why Betty White, of course. Who else is a wonder!

Vote Betty White! #wonderwoman #bettywhite

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NEWJERSEY: Revolving door?

Saturday, February 12, 2011

https://local.nixle.com/alert/4652443/?sub_id=241886

Community Message has been issued by the South Brunswick Twp Police Department.
Friday February 11, 2011 11:21 AM EST
3 ARRESTED IN TARGET PARKING LOT

*** begin quote ***

At 3:25pm Thursday afternoon South Brunswick Police were called to the Target department store on Route 1 for a theft. Officers arrived and learned that Target loss prevention personnel stopped Ashley Vohdin age 27 of Metuchen as she was leaving the store with stolen baby formula. Officer Ken Herman and Officer Lazlo Nyitrai determined that two other suspects were in the parking lot waiting for Vohdin.

Officer approached the two men Brian Bomba age 31 of South River and Anthony Kunsevich age 29 of East Brunswick. Officers obtained consent to search their vehicle and discovered another 17 cans of stolen formula. In addition police recovered heroin and a syringe in the car. The officers investigation determined that the suspects had been shoplifting all day. The suspects had stolen the items from a Target and A&P in Edison prior to coming to South Brunswick. The suspects had intended on selling the formula to small stores and getting money.

A judge authorized all suspects to be released on summonses pending their first court appearances. All three were charged with possession of stolen property. Bomba and Kunsevich were charged with heroin possesion. Vohdin was charged with shoplifting

For full details, go to https://local.nixle.com/alert/4652443/?sub_id=241886.

Contact Information:
Sgt Jim Ryan
PIO
732-329-4646 jryan@sbtnj.net

*** end quote ***

Summonses?

Does this judge live in my world?

They are addicts. They need a fix. How are they going to earn the money to get that fix.

That’s why the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” has to end. It’s stupid.

If drugs were legal, then they’d be cheap and maybe addicts wouldn’t have to steal to feed their habits.

Argh!

# # # # # posted 2011-02-12 10:15


GOLDBUG: The FED “preserves the dollar’s value

Saturday, February 12, 2011

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/fry5.1.1.html

Tracing the Fed’s Vital Role in the Decline of the US Dollar
by Eric Fry

*** begin quote ***

… let’s consider the plight of two hypothetical buddies from 1914. The first buddy, Caleb, stashes a $500 “rainy day” fund under the floorboards of his house – a roll of ten $50 Ulysses S. Grant dollar bills. The second buddy, Josiah, also stashes $500 under the floorboards – he walks into the neighborhood bank with ten $50 Ulysses S. Grant Gold Certificates and exchanges them for gold. Josiah then takes his gold and hides it under his floorboards.

Both buddies forget about their hidden stashes. Eventually, let’s say 2010, the respective heirs of these two long-deceased buddies happen to conduct simultaneous renovations of their respective residences. Caleb’s heirs find the ten ancient $50 bills. “How quaint,” they think to themselves. Josiah’s heirs find $32,172 worth of gold!

Thus, 98 years of history demonstrates conclusively that a blind monkey could have preserved the dollar’s purchasing power better than a Federal Reserve Chairman. Unfortunately, it’s tough to find a blind monkey who will take the job.

Reprinted with permission from The Daily Reckoning.

*** end quote ***

A longer version of my summation: “Which would you rather find? A pirate’s chest of gold coins, a chest full of Confederate money, or a chest full of Federal Reserve Banknotes?”

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MONEY: The IMF turns against the USA and its dollar

Friday, February 11, 2011

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/10/markets/dollar/index.htm

IMF calls for dollar alternative
By Ben Rooney, staff reporterFebruary 10, 2011: 4:37 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The International Monetary Fund issued a report Thursday on a possible replacement for the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

*** end quote ***

And, why are we funding this group of snakes?

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SERVICE: GOOGLE starts to make two factor authentication available

Friday, February 11, 2011

Advanced sign-in security for your Google account
Posted: 10 Feb 2011 08:30 AM PST

*** begin quote ***

Most of us are used to entrusting our information to a password, but we know that some of you are looking for something stronger. As we announced to our Google Apps customers a few months ago, we’ve developed an advanced opt-in security feature called 2-step verification that makes your Google Account significantly more secure by helping to verify that you’re the real owner of your account. Now it’s time to offer the same advanced protection to all of our users.

2-step verification requires two independent factors for authentication, much like you might see on your banking website: your password, plus a code obtained using your phone. Over the next few days, you’ll see a new link on your Account Settings page that looks like this: …

*** end quote ***

Now maybe this will embarrass the financial institutions into real security. As opposed to “password theater”.

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SERVICE: Extended Opt Out Time is unacceptable

Friday, February 11, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Opt out

You have successfully opted out of Clearance Jobs Communications. It may take up to 10 days to fully process your opt-out request.

*** end quote ***

TEN DAYS!

Ya gotta be kidding?

CONSTANTCONTACT does it INSTANTLY!

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POLITICAL: We need those who pay to vote; unlike here in the US where freeloaders vote

Friday, February 11, 2011

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9213

Nuns denied opportunity to vote in Ontario election
February 10, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Four nuns were denied their right to vote in the Cambridge (Ontario) municipal election for Catholic school board candidates last fall.

Sister Michael Daniel Dumais, 39, said that a poll worker told her that “because I had taken a vow of poverty, I don’t pay taxes, so I’m not contributing to any school board, and therefore I don’t have a choice in voting for the separate school.” Instead, she and the other nuns were handed an incomplete ballot.

City Clerk Alex Mitchell downplayed the nuns’ complaints, saying that “there’s an onus on the voter to make sure you’re casting the right ballot.”

*** end quote ***

I pay school taxes on three houses in two jurisdictions!

Never have had any children.

So why am I pay to educate children I never had? I had no vote in the decision to have them.

Why do I have to pay for other people’s choices?

Argh!

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TINFOILHAT: Huffington, an “opportunist”?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/08/AR2011020805179.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

Arianna Huffington’s ideological transformation

By Dana Milbank

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

*** begin quote ***

This transformation should come as no surprise to anybody who has followed Huffington’s remarkable career. Greek-born and Cambridge-educated, she has always been on the move ideologically, from her early squabbles with feminism to her role as a minister with the new-age Movement for Spiritual Inner Awareness, from her membership in Newt Gingrich’s brain trust to her stint as populist activist – all before her greatest act, the Huffington Post.

I say this with admiration. Huffington deserves every one of those millions she’ll be paid by AOL for creating this online sensation.

*** end quote ***

Could, perhaps, she better be characterized as an “opportunist”?

Moving her “beliefs” to what sells “best”!

I remember listening to her when she was on the tube in the “conservative role”. She just didn’t ring true. As if she was working form talking points. (You can always tell a “true believer” they have their talking points engraved on their heart. I always attributed her stumbling on points to “English as a Second Language”. It really was I’m just peddling the pablum to a willing audience.

I find that distressing. This whole episode distressing. It’s like she’s an entertainer changing roles.

By definition, she has no credibility. When you hear her spout, she’s merely repeating someone else’s ideas. I’d rather hear from the originator. Newt, Walter Williams, Rick Santelli, Bill Cosby, even the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Give us the original thinkers speaking in their own voice. Not regurgitated <synonym for excrement>!

Given that AOL is a shadow of its former self, relying on surviving on the ignorance of old people to pay a monthly subscription, thay have to find a source of revenue that’s not dying.

Sorry to say, I think they just pumped more money down a rathole.

Due to a good pitch by a master saleswoman.

But they shouldn’t feel bad, Adam was sold an apple by the same type of gal!

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RANT: This shows that medical regulation is hopeless

Thursday, February 10, 2011

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3403090/Brit-wannabe-hip-hop-star-Claudia-Aderotimi-died-after-her-illegal-op-went-tragically-wrong.html

Bottom implant op kills hip hop girl
By ALEX WEST, CAROLINE GRANT and PETE SAMSON, US Editor

*** begin quote ***

THIS is British wannabe hip-hop star Claudia Aderotimi, who died after an illegal cosmetic procedure to enhance her bottom went tragically wrong.

*** and ***

Police said she and her pals checked into the cheap Philadelphia hotel to have the illegal procedure.

But almost 12 hours after receiving the injections in her rear she began complaining of chest pains and was rushed to hospital, where she died at 1.32am on Tuesday.

It is suspected she may have been injected with industrial silicone normally used as a sealant instead of the more expensive variety usually used for legal breast enlargements.

It is also thought the substance was mistakenly injected into a vein.

US cops were last night seeking the “doctor”, who left after giving the jabs in room 425 of the Hampton Inn hotel, near Philadelphia airport.

*** end quote ***

RIP Claudia. You looked beautiful; you were beautiful. What made you think you needed more?

Perhaps if we had LESS Gooferment regulation of medical stuff, this might not have happened.

Hard to believe that a free market in medicine would not have made her more suspicious of a strange practitioner, given her options that she could afford, and permitted her to have it done at a cost she could afford safely.

In this case, the Gooferment has failed in its only duty to protect “We, The People” from force or fraud.

“Medical tourism” gone awry. Why didn’t she go to Asia or India like the other folks do?

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FUN: The girl of his dreams wasn’t

Thursday, February 10, 2011

http://www.hltmag.co.uk/oct09/

Half Cup of Tea
submitted by Cynthia Beresford, UK

*** begin quote ***

Jeremy, who was a very timid young man, had one or two little manias. One of these was that he never wanted more than half a cup of tea. Mostly, though, people were too thoughtless or too generous and they always seemed to fill his cup up.

This girl he met, the daughter of friend of his mother’s, she asked him:

“ Would you like a cup of tea?”

“ Just half , if you don’t mind”

She poured him exactly half a cup.

Over the next few weeks they got to know each other better and nine months on they got engaged.

When he had timidly given her the ring she asked:

“ What was it about me that……?”

He smiled: “I asked you for half a cup of tea and you gave me what I asked for”

She blushed: “It was a terrible moment, that was all I had left in the pot…… I felt awful.”

*** end quote ***

A Spoonful of Salt
submitted by Alan Maley, UK

*** begin quote ***

He met her at a party. She was so outstanding, all the guys were chasing after her. As for him, he felt so ordinary and nobody paid attention to him. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him, she was surprised, but being polite, she agreed. They sat in a nice coffee shop, but he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, and thought, please, let me go home…. when suddenly he asked the waiter. “Would you please give me some salt? I’d like to put it in my coffee.”

Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red, but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously; why salt? Why not sugar?” He replied,”When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea, I liked playing in the sea and the taste of the salty sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have salty coffee, I think of my childhood, think of my hometown. I miss my hometown so much, and I miss my parents who are still living there”.

Tears suddenly filled his eyes. She was deeply touched by his words. A man who can reveal his homesickness, must be a man who loves home, cares about home, feels the responsibility of home. Then she also started to speak, about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family….her life. And that was the beautiful beginning of their story. Later, after their marriage, every time she made coffee for him, she put a spoonful of salt in it as she knew that was how he liked it.

40 years later, he passed away, leaving her a letter which said:

“My dearest, please forgive me. My whole Life has been based on a lie. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time. I actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt. It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead. I never thought that would be the start of our life together! I wanted to tell you the truth many times in but I was too afraid to do that. Now I’m dying, I’m afraid of nothing so here is the truth: I don’t like salty coffee – I hate the taste… But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life!”

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NETWORK: Carriers Hold the Cards

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/02/iphone-verizon-sucks/

Verizon iPhone Shows You Can’t Win: Carriers Hold the Cards

By Brian X. Chen February 7, 2011 | 4:45 pm

*** begin quote ***

On the day that iPhone preorders began last week, Verizon quietly revised its policy on data management: Any smartphone customer who uses an “extraordinary amount of data” will see a slowdown in their data-transfer speeds for the remainder of the month and the next billing cycle. It’s a bit of a bait-and-switch. One of Verizon’s selling points for its version of the iPhone is that it would come with an unlimited data plan — a marked contrast to AT&T, which eliminated its unlimited data plans last year.

*** end quote ***

“A BIT”!

Are you kidding me?

Where’s the FTC on false advertising, the FCC on “telecom regulation”, and DOJ on “restraint of trade”? (… or do you think APPLE’s IPAD just isn’t welcome on the T-MOBILE network.)

How come they (DOJ) took AT&T apart at the seams and ruined a “national treasure” (Universal cheap local phone service and Bell Labs)? But they leave the cesspool of cable and telcos “unregulated”. Talk about “regulatory capture”!

I think it’s “real simple”. Reintroduce the idea that you can make hardware, software, or the network. But never the twain shall meet. If you open an “app store” then you can’t be in the business of making software.

How about the doctrine of “first sale” and all this “licensing” nonsense? You have to be kidding me!

The crippled DVRs of the cable and telcos is unfair competition with TIVO.

And, billing? Sorry but you can’t mislabel “fees” as “taxes”. And, you can’t pre-bill, post-bill, or change it as you go along.

Finally, “agreements” that are “agreed to” after the purchase, or have legalese, or that are 37 pages of small print designed to be “read” in real time on a computer screen should be presumed to be fraudulent and thus null and void.

# # # # #


QUOTE: Foreign aid

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

“Foreign aid: A transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.” – Douglas Casey

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JOBSEARCH: Another reason to NEVER use your employer’s email for YOU_INC

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Dear HotJobs® Job Seeker,

This is our final notice to let you know that Yahoo! HotJobs has been acquired by Monster® and the integration will be completed on Feb. 12, 2011. This means that you can have a more robust job search than ever before — more employers, more opportunities, more industry depth, and more tools — if you give us permission to transfer your information.

{Extraneous Deleted}

*** end quote ***

Of course, this ASSUMES that the email that was registered with HOTJOBS is still current. :-) Given the way folks have been getting nuked, and they stpidly use their employer’e email address as if it was their own, oh well, they may be OUTTA_LUCK?

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POLITICAL: “We Can’t Legalize Drugs Because …?

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/07/hillary-clinton-we-cant-legali

Hillary Clinton: We Can’t Legalize Drugs Because ‘There Is Just Too Much Money in It’
Jacob Sullum | February 7, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Last week, while visiting Mexico, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was interviewed by Denise Maerker of Televisa, who asked her opinion of proposals to address black-market violence by repealing drug prohibition. Clinton’s response illustrates not only the intellectual bankruptcy of the prohibitionist position but the economic ignorance of a woman who would be president (emphasis added):

Maerker: In Mexico, there are those who propose not keeping going with this battle and legalize drug trafficking and consumption. What is your opinion?

Clinton: I don’t think that will work. I mean, I hear the same debate. I hear it in my country. It is not likely to work. There is just too much money in it, and I don’t think that—you can legalize small amounts for possession, but those who are making so much money selling, they have to be stopped.

*** end quote ***

Many a true word comes through in an unguarded moment.

Think of all the politicians and bureaucrats that would be out of job. At the very least, ¼ of the federal prisons could be closed.

Money being spent on the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” could be returned to the taxpayers.

Drugs were once available in a true free market. We had addicts. We will ALWAYS have addicts. Time after time, we see that there’s about a 10% addiction rate. No matter what the law is.

So, if we “legalize drugs”, then we will put the Columbian Drug Kingpins on welfare. And, think of all the children and young adults that we will save from bad drugs and from addiction. (Addiction, because when drugs are no longer illegal, they won’t be “kool”.)

We will also remove the corrupting effect of drug dealers bribing cops and repeal the whole civil forfeiture laws.

Or we can continue doing it “Hillary’s way”!

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GUNS: The heck with “wasp spray”; get a gun and practice

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

SOMEONE FORWARDED SOME INTERNET “ADVICE”:

*** begin quote ***

Note: Read all the way to the bottom, wasp spray and key fob are the best ideas of all!

There are some really great tips here: The best are near the end. Common sense applied in a vigorous way.

*** begin “advice” ***

THIRTEEN THINGS YOUR BURGLAR WON’T TELL YOU

If you don’t have a gun, here’s a more humane way to wreck someone’s evil plans for you. (I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat.):

WASP SPRAY

A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead.

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn’t attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Thought this was interesting and might be of use.

*** and ***

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your Dr.’s office, the check-out girl at the market, everyone you run across. Put your car keys beside your bed at night.  If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It’s a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won’t stick around. After a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won’t want that. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there. This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.

P.S. I am sending this to everyone I know because I think it is fantastic. Would also be useful for any emergency, such as a heart attack, where you can’t reach a phone. My Mom has suggested to my Dad that he carry his car keys with him in case he falls outside and she doesn’t hear him. He can activate the car alarm and then she’ll know there’s a problem.

*** end “advice” ***

*** end quote ***

I’ve read the “wasp spray” advice before.

In the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee and other of the socialist states, you can’ do that legally. (Don’t yell at me. I don’t make the diktats.) It gives the presumption of preplanning.

AND, in line with the great libertarian rules of thumb, like “the three Ss — shoot shovel and shutup”, “better judged by 12 than carried by 6”, and “Where Guns Are Outlawed Terrorist Need Only Boxcutters” — I wouldn’t tell you not to do it. It’s your tush.

BUTT (there’s always a big but) for woman your size, I suggest a nice 380. And, no one’s going to have to compromise their safety. A 1911 might be too big. It’s the gun that tamed the Philippines. A hopped up native with a machete found it difficult to advance when hit ANYWHERE with the equivalent of a ¼ car.

If you don’t want a handgun, I’d then suggest a shotgun. No aim required. And, jacking the shell into the chamber makes a sound that is very satisfying.

One thing the mainstream media never reports is what the gun nuts call “the violence avoided by a firearm”. You’re at home and wave your shotgun at an intruder who runs away; that will NEVER be reported in the press.

Remember an old and true, military motto, “Si vis pacem, para bellum” from Flavius Vegetius Renatus circa 375 AD: “If you want peace, prepare for war.”

Donna Nobis Pacem!

;-)

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2006/05/11/gunz-why-is-the-380-a-girlie-gun/

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RANT: Responding to a comment about “Gooferment Skrules”

Monday, February 7, 2011

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2011/02/private-funding-for-public-schools.html

>Corporate America, … are all on board for school “privatization”

In America, I doubt you could get that lot “on board” for anything. And, btw, the Facebook guy gave his money to what? Wasn’t it a “public school system”?

>charter schools and school vouchers would be dead in the water

The really ARE “dead in the water”. The Teacher’s Union will ensure that they are crippled out of the box with restrictions and conditions.

>libertarians hate public schools because they are selfish

No, this little L libertarian hates Gooferment Skrules because they are funded by force.

>just don’t want to pay taxes.

You’re right. I want to buy services in the marketplace where I can pick and choose. Yes to Burger King; no to Wendy’s. I don’t want to be forced to fund McD’s and then told “but you’re free to go elsewhere.” If you steal my wealth, (what little of it I have), then I am NOT free.

>They got their public education

Nope; I got none of that there “pub lick eddykation”.

>attitude is tough luck to the children who are

>being educated in public schools.

Were that they WERE being “educated” in those Gooferment Skrules! They are being propagandized! And, poorly at that. If you look at the stats.

>I received a public education

Well, good for you. Nice to hear that the money poured down the rathole wasn’t totally wasted. And, I’m sure you will tell us how wonderful that Gooferment education was. No propaganda or brain washing there. You’re just defending anything the Gooferment does because that’s the right way to do it.

>I consider it to be an investment in the future.

I love when folks muddle the language. “Investment” is when someone puts capital at risk in hope of a return. My capital was seized by the State and I have no hope of a return. It ain’t “investment” to spend stolen wealth on the euphemism of “public schools”. It’s about “milking the system” for the benefit of politicians, bureaucrats, and their “friends”.

> I got my public education and I want current and future kids to receive a public education.

And, I want to be thin, young, hndsome, and live in peace with my neighbors. It ain’t going to happen! For as long as you and your gang of costumed thugs continue to rob me like a mafia.

>We pool our tax dollars for the common good

No, WE DON’T “pool”. We are ROBBED to fund the things that the elite think are important.

Why do I have to be robbed to to fund any of those things. If I want that “service”, I should be allowed to “buy” it.

Just because, you yell about the Gooferment paying for stuff, doesn’t make it the only way or the right way to do it.

Because ALL Gooferment actions are rooted in FORCE — forcing people to pay for this stuff, those actions are IMMORAL and doomed to failure.

Those things that are NOT outright failures — and it’s hard to think of one thing that is not, are too costly when compared with “private” alternatives. (That’s because a “greedy” businessman is incentivized to satisfy the buyer at the lowest possible cost.)

> NJ public schools are top rated

That’s like saying I have the “prettiest pig in the pen”.

>graduation rates

Are manipulated by politicians and bureaucrats. For example, dropouts are not counted.

>population living in poverty

We disagree about the definition of “poverty”, but I blame the Gooferment for what you cite.

>some schools with serious challenges

Like graduating children scarred for life by not being able to read!

>If we had universal health care and state supported after school care

We’d all be broke and the problems would still exist!

>Germany or Finland have

So why are you here, trying to turn us into them.

>School choice is not a free ride

I don’t like anything that uses tax dollars. Parents had the children; they should educate them. It’s NOT my responsibility!

>Chinese immersion charter school is approved with no input from tax payers.

All Gooferment Skrules are nuts!

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INTERESTING: Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams autobiographies are published

Monday, February 7, 2011

http://www.garynorth.com/public/7563.cfm

Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams: Still Out of Step After All These Years
Gary North
Jan. 28, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Walter Williams has written an autobiography, Up from the Projects (Hoover Institution, 2010). Not counting the index, it is 142 pages long. It makes for a nice afternoon’s read. I read it this week. A week ago, I re-read Thomas Sowell’s autobiography, A Personal Odyssey (Free Press, 2000). Williams is 74. Sowell is 80. The two of them have similar stories. Sowell was born in North Carolina and grew up in Harlem. Williams grew up in Philadelphia. Sowell served in the Marines. Williams served in the Army. Both of them provided plenty of aggravation for their superiors. They both knew how to work the system. Sowell got more out of the experience. He became a first-rate photographer.

*** end quote ***

Might actually have to break down and buy these books. KINDLE4iPAD actually.

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