RANT: Recording ANY “public servent” should be allowed anytime!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/56563.html

April 26, 2010
Don’t Film a Cop Pointing a Gun at You
Posted by Karen De Coster on April 26, 2010 05:42 AM

*** begin quote ***

“Turns out there’s a law against audibly recording someone without their consent. It’s a felony.”

The motorcyclist, Anthony Graber, spent 26 hours in jail. Read the rest of this remarkable story here. Carlos Miller has a good website if you have never been to it: Photography is Not a Crime. Thanks to Ymbel Diaz for the link.

*** end quote ***

This has to go to the Supremes.

Absolutely absurd!

Do Maryland police have dash cams?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Are you a Nerd or a Geek?

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

http://networkedblogs.com/3alvf

Are you a Nerd or a Geek?

201004270837.jpg

# – # – #

Dweeb! I think. I’ll have to ask Luddite.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | FUN | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Political Assassination a bad idea when applied to us?

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/04/the_effectivene_1.html

Schneier on Security
A blog covering security and security technology.

April 20, 2010
The Effectiveness of Political Assassinations

*** begin quote ***

This is an excellent read:

I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me 20 years ago that America would someday be routinely firing missiles into countries it’s not at war with. For that matter, I wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me a few months ago that America would soon be plotting the assassination of an American citizen who lives abroad.

*** end quote ***

Interesting is the “good for the goose; good for the gander” argument. If terrorists start targeting American political leaders, then I can imagine the moral indignation.

Also, interesting is that “letters of marque and reprisal” WAS acceptable to the dead old white guys and provided for in the Constitution. (Not that they’d do it; they’d just give whoever did do it a “get out of jail free” card.) We don’t follow the Constitution about declaring war, the Constitution’s implied isolationism, or the dead old white guys’ often expressed policy of MYOB.

How’s that supposed Chinese curse go? “May you live in interesting times.”

# # # # #

As a little L libertarian who is pro-life anti-death penalty, fighting an undeclared war, killing civilians, and the indiscriminate assassination of supposed enemies is unacceptable and immoral.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Reconnect or repolarize

Monday, April 26, 2010

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0410/Obama_seeks_to_reconnectyoung_people_AfricanAmerins_Latinos_and_women_for_2010.html

April 26, 2010
Obama seeks to ‘reconnect…young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women’ for 2010
Ben Smith

*** begin quote ***

Obama speaks with unusual demographic frankness about his coalition in his appeal to “young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008 [to] stand together once again.”

*** end quote ***

Argh!

Was that the demographic groups that put him over the top?

Or was it anyone who believed the “barbara streisand” that he was peddling?

Argh!

Another corrupt Chicago politician that’s feeling the heat after disappointing the voters.

AND, BTW, why had he spent more than 2M$ fighting to keep his paperwork hidden?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

QUOTE: Self-ownership and the implications thereof

Monday, April 26, 2010

“Once one accepts the principle of self-ownership, what’s moral and immoral becomes self-evident. Murder is immoral because it violates private property. Rape and theft are also immoral — they also violate private property. Here’s an important question: Would rape become morally acceptable if Congress passed a law legalizing it? You say: “What’s wrong with you, Williams? Rape is immoral plain and simple, no matter what Congress says or does!” If you take that position, isn’t it just as immoral when Congress legalizes the taking of one person’s earnings to give to another? Surely if a private person took money from one person and gave it to another, we’d deem it theft and, as such, immoral. Does the same act become moral when Congress takes people’s money to give to farmers, airline companies or an impoverished family? No, it’s still theft, but with an important difference: It’s legal, and participants aren’t jailed.” — Walter Williams

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Quotes | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INSPIRATIONAL: Liberty needs a leader

Sunday, April 25, 2010

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/04/25/
despite_forecasts_freedom_takes_more_than_technology

Despite forecasts, freedom takes more than technology
Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe

*** begin quote ***

It is always inspiring to encounter individuals who jeopardize their safety and freedom to speak truth to power, and the dissidents gathered on the campus of Southern Methodist University were no exception. Ahed al-Hendi, a young antigovernment activist seized by the Syrian mukhabarat — the secret police — as he was blogging in a Damascus Internet café, spent 34 days in a 2-by-3-foot jail cell. The Russian dissident Oleg Kozlovsky (who was grounded in Europe and joined the conference via Skype) has been repeatedly arrested and was even drafted by the Russian army in 2007 in order to thwart his prodemocracy activities. As former President Bush put it in opening the conference, these “are people who refuse to take the lack of freedom for granted.’’

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but I don’t see the MLK who will change this country.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL, LIBERTY | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOVERNACIDE: Gooferment North of the Border kills as well

Sunday, April 25, 2010

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/04/17/13622106.html

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Stranded woman dies despite 911 call

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

Last Updated: April 17, 2010 2:34am

*** begin quote ***

BIG RIVER, Sask. – A woman who died trying to get help for three family members is being called a hero, but the situation has RCMP investigating why their calls to 911 went unheeded.

RCMP said two women and two children had been driving to Loon Lake from Prince Albert when their car got bogged down in mud and water on a poorly maintained road in a remote area near Big River. Records indicate someone in the car called 911 on April 8 but no officers were dispatched.

One of the women tried to get help, walking some 60 kilometres from the vehicle.

*** and ***

There have been several high-profile problems with 911 service in other Canadian cities.

In Calgary, one woman narrowly escaped being killed when she came home last November and found her two children slain. Ying Louie called 911 earlier saying she feared for the safety of her children because her husband wouldn’t let her speak to them. Louie called again about 30 minutes later and talked to a different operator. There was a scream and the line cut off.

In February, a Calgary woman was heard in distress in the background of a 911 call made more than 12 hours before she was found dead by police.

An inquest was held in Winnipeg after two aboriginal sisters — Corrine McKeown, 52, and Doreen Leclair, 51 — were murdered in 2000. They had called police and 911 five times over eight hours to get help. Police responded to the first call and to the last call, when they found the women had been stabbed to death inside Leclair’s home in Winnipeg’s north end.

Morin said the woman was released from hospital Friday. He met with her and the boys, along with the RCMP.

“She was still pretty weak, but the kids were … pretty healthy,” said Morin.

*** end quote ***

Argh! “Dial 911 and die”

Mistakes happen. Fatal mistakes. Avoidable mistakes.

(1) Logging road shortcut.

Are you kidding me? That’s what got that California guy and his family. At least, his excuse was he was following his Garmin. Wasn’t the lack of pavement a clue that they were headed in the “wrong” direction?

(2) Calling 911!

Always a mistake. If lost, call a friend or relative who will care if you are succored or not. A follow up with the donut eating bureaucrats. (Nice of them to conduct an investigation abot the multiple gooferment failures in this story.

(3) Car not equipped for survival.

No 72 hour bag in the trunk. No tools. No survival gear. And these were Native Americans?

(4) 60 click hike

That’s about 40 miles. (That’s a good hike for a Marine.) But doable. Didn’t say how old the lady was, but with properly gear, it has to be do-able. “Four days later” indicates she made ten miles per day. Would seem to be a comfortable pace.

(5) Dead on the side of the road

Natural causes or run over?

(6) 911 Operators

No one knew nothing. No follow up. No use.

(7) 911 History

Only the gooferment can provide an expensive service that fails so badly. No one gets fired. No one is reprimanded. “She’s lucky!”

Where’s the outrage?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | GOVERNACIDE | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: ROTH IRA’s tax-free status may NOT be dependible

Saturday, April 24, 2010

http://www.ricedelman.com/cs/pressroom/pressroom_detail?pressrelease.id=1122

Roth IRA Conversion Question
For Immediate Release
April 22, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Question: Regarding Roth IRA conversions, what is there to prevent the government 10, 20 or 30 years from now taking these Roth IRAs and changing rules and making them taxable, either all or in part, or making them subject to the AMT?

Ric: There is nothing preventing Congress from doing that. That is one of our objections to the Roth IRA and specifically to the Roth IRA Conversion.

Congress says Roth IRA withdrawals are tax-free, but we get a new Congress every two years. Planning to retire in 20 years? That’s 10 Congresses from now.

If the government needs more revenue, a future Congress might decide to tax the money held in Roth accounts. You can even argue that this is why Congress allows Roth conversions in the first place: The conversion does not necessarily lower your taxes, but it does accelerate your payment of them. By getting you to convert, Congress gets the tax revenue now. Clever, huh?

Do you trust Congress to honor its promises? The more you do, the more confident you can be about putting money in the Roth IRA. Personally, I am not terribly confident.

*** end quote ***

The out of control congress doesn’t inspire confidence.

As they cast around for “revenue”, the 401ks and IRAs must certainly be attractive.

Watch your wealth it’s hunting season for money in DC!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: This call may be recorded for quality assurance

Saturday, April 24, 2010

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20100416_Bankruptcy_judge_orders_taping_documents_produced.html

Posted on Fri, Apr. 16, 2010
Bankruptcy judge orders taping documents produced
By Christopher K. Hepp Inquirer Staff Writer

*** begin quote ***

The auction is central to the company’s reorganization plan, which calls for the senior lenders, including Angelo Gordon & Co., CIT Group, and Credit Suisse, to receive the proceeds from the sale to settle about $318 million in debt. The lenders have said they intend to bid on the company.

The taping incident involves a meeting between company officials and some of its senior lenders at Philadelphia Newspapers’ Broad Street headquarters to discuss a possible negotiated settlement of the company’s debt.

Brian P. Tierney, Philadelphia Newspapers’ CEO, discovered Vincent DeVito, a representative of the CIT Group, taping the meeting. In Pennsylvania, taping a meeting without permission is a crime.

*** end quote ***

Interesting!

This has come up several times. In the context of Acorn. In the context of police actions. And, now this.

Shouldn’t it ALWAYS be legal to tape something that you are a witness to?

Putting on my Judge Judy hat, seems obvious to me.

Besides aren’t we always hearing: “This call may be recorded for quality assurance”?

I don’t get a choice. So what different.

Argh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: SEC, an incompetent regulator

Friday, April 23, 2010

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/23/sec-incompetence/

SEC Incompetence
Posted by Mark A. Calabria

*** begin quote ***

But the porn charges are the least of the SEC’s worries. Also released was the IG’s report on the SEC’s failure to stop the Stanford Ponzi scheme. The report shows a clear pattern of incompetence at the SEC. Given the SEC’s failure to act on the Madoff scheme, and the repeated warnings about Stanford, one has to wonder how good SEC investogators are at discovering fraud if they don’t even pursue the clear-cut cases brought to them.

*** end quote ***

Government is ALWAYS ineffective and inefficient.

This is a classic example of that.

So, why should we even have an SEC?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Rumors about the pot of trillions in IRAs and 401ks

Friday, April 23, 2010

http://whiskeyandgunpowder.com/401k-as-dangerous-as-the-dollar/

*** begin quote ***

You’re going to have to pay taxes on those funds eventually anyway, and far better to snatch two-thirds or so of the prize away before it gets dumped into the general fund and is spent on housing for Hamas, the snail darter, uniforms for the Obama Youth, excruciatingly bad modern “art,” or more perquisites for Congress. Even half a loaf will be better than none…if you turn it quickly into objects of intrinsic value, such as gold, silver, diesel oil, and emergency rations.

*** end quote ***

Another doomsday prediction about OBH44 with the congresscritters seizing the 401ks. Makes sense since all they have to do is strong arm all “the custodians”. Like Rooosevelt’s “bank holiday” and gold call in, one day you got and the next day you don’t. I’m no so sure that “cashing out” and paying the tax penalties is a smart strategy either. Sigh! One MIGHT consider NOT putting more into the 401ks or IRAs. If it does get seized, it’s going to be catastrophic to the market confidence. So the stock markets will be going south! So maybe cashing out is a good strategy. You lose either way. So maybe commodities that you can put in your “mad money” jar makes sense. 1 to 10% of your portfolio?

Once you decide to do that, I’d go for 1 ounce silver rounds. And, if you’re into the “band aids, beans, and bullets” philosophy, some bricks of 22’s will be a good commodity.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

FUN: MALE VS. FEMALE AT ATM MACHINE

Friday, April 23, 2010

FROM LUDDITE (Blame him; not me)

*** begin quote ***

Subject: FW: MALE VS. FEMALE AT ATM MACHINE

-MALE VS. FEMALE AT THE ATM MACHINE <http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/enjoythemasti&gt;

A new sign in the Bank Lobby reads:

‘Please note that this Bank is installing new Drive-through ATM machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles. Customers using this new facility are requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts. After months of careful research, MALE &FEMALE Procedures have been developed. Please follow the Appropriate steps for your gender.’

# – # – #

MALE PROCEDURE:

1. Drive up to the cash machine.

2. Put down your car window.

3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.

4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.

5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt..

6. Put window up.

7.. Drive off.

FEMALE PROCEDURE:

What is really funny is that most of this part is the Truth!

1. Drive up to cash machine.

2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.

3. Set parking brake, put the window down.

4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.

5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up..

6. Attempt to insert card into machine…

7.. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.

8.. Insert card.

9. Re-insert card the right way.

10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.

11. Enter PIN.

12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.

13. Enter amount of cash required.

14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.

15. Retrieve cash and receipt…

16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside..

17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.

18. Re-check makeup.

19. Drive forward 2 feet.

20. Reverse back to cash machine.

21. Retrieve card.

22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided!

23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.

24.. Restart stalled engine and pull off.

25. Redial person on cell phone..

26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.   

27. Release Parking Brake.

SEND THIS TO A MAN WHO NEEDS A LAUGH, <http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/enjoythemasti&gt;

AND TO THE LADIES who can handle it…. they need a laugh, too!

Remember this! A lady sent it to me.

She was laughing, too.

*** end quote ***

Email complaints to Luddite (two d’s and one t) at reinke dot cc

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | FUN | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Temple restricts everyone’s free speech rights

Friday, April 23, 2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-lukianoff/temple-student-group-plac_b_537916.html

Temple Student Group Placed on Probation for Inviting Me to Speak?
Greg Lukianoff is the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
Posted: April 14, 2010 04:24 PM

*** begin quote ***

A Temple University student group was notified this morning that it was on probation because of me. Apparently Temple just decided I am either so dangerous or so important that I need security for a lecture on campus tonight (I promise I am neither), but since the group sponsoring me did not request security, it is on probation effective immediately.

*** end quote ***

Interesting!

What happened to “free speech”?

Temple University’s “about” page doesn’t say if it’s public or private. Regardless, it takes Federal funds so it’s a de facto Federal agent. Hence it can’t abridge free speech. So this “security fee”, and the flap over it, is chilling to the free speech rights of everyone.

Argh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: UofP blows it by not offering alumni email

Friday, April 23, 2010

*** begin quote ***

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of
its recipients. The following addresses failed:
<xxxxxxxxx@email.uophx.edu>
SMTP error from remote server in greeting:
host email.uophx.edu[204.17.28.37]:
550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable.

*** end quote ***

Interesting! University of Phoenix takes down email when it’s student’s graduate. How short sighted is that?

Obvious, even if I had to cut a deal with Google for Gmail to offer to all my alumni that’s a great marketing ploy.

Future sales. Referrals. References. Social networking. Free advertisign when folks use it. Alumni networking.

Boy, did they blow it.

They may have the next generation in the “education” model, but they still have old thinking at the top.

Traditional schools most flub it as well, but they’re dinosaurs so what would you expect!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | SERVICE | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INSPIRATIONAL: Milton Friedman on Capitalism and “greed is universal”; it’s good for the poor too

Thursday, April 22, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjH4QBSwWlg&feature=player_embedded

Milton Friedman Teaches Phil Donahue
Posted by Karen De Coster on April 14, 2010 07:15 PM

*** begin quote ***

Sure, Donahue was a boob, even when he was right (such as war), but just 30 years later, can you imagine any television talk show host bringing on an intellectual with the caliber of Milton Friedman? Compare Oprah or Sally Jesse Raphael. Donahue also interviewed Ayn Rand. In light of that, I have many fond memories of the Phil Donahue show. My Mom had his show on all the time, so I watched it, whenever possible, from the time I was about ten years old. I learned much from the debate/discussion on his show.

*** end quote ***

Two minutes; Safe For Work. Stunningly inspirational!

In the movie, we learned from the character Gordon Gekko that “Greed is Good”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upG01-XWbY

“I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.”

Here we learn from Milton Friedman, that it’s not only good for the poor unwashed masses, but that it’s inescapable.

All “leaders” always have clay feet pursuing their own ends. They can’t help but be human.

And, Milton Friedman warns us to trust none of them.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: I have some anecdotal evidence that I never understood

Thursday, April 22, 2010

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/1201-glasses_help_parkinsons_patients.htm

Science Video
Glasses Help Parkinson’s Patients
Podiatrist Invents Device To Make Walking Easier For Parkinson’s Sufferers
December 1, 2007

*** begin quote ***

The augmented reality glasses simulate an effect called kinesia paradoxa: the triggering of normal walking behavior in akinetic Parkinson’s patients by the placement of physical obstacles at their feet. Sometimes such cues exist naturally, such as black and white tiles placed evenly on a floor. The black tiles appear as objects to avoid, or as guides, and trigger a reflex of landing the feet between the black spaces. Walking up regularly spaced objects like stairs triggers the same effect, and can “un-freeze” a person who otherwise has problems walking with a normal gait. Presenting virtual objects and abstract visual cues moving through the patientýs visual field at speeds that emulate normal walking can also achieve this effect.

*** end quote ***

When I read this i had a “Great Brother Jasper’s Ghost!!!” moment.

My Mom has just past. As she aged, she suffered terribly with Parkinson’s.

Growing up, she had spent a lot of money on black and white tiles through out the apartment. Maybe it was her way, even without knowing it, that she was compensating.

Wish I could tell the author. It might help him to another breakthrough.

I find this an interesting explanation.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: A truly free market requires no license!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/04/22/obama-to-scold-wall-street-in-cooper-union-speech/?mod=djemalertNEWS

*** begin quote ***

“A free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it,” President Obama will say, according to speech excerpts.

*** end quote ***

One thing about OBH44, his speeches are a hoot!

A truly free market requires no license!

It’s a meeting of the minds of two sovereign individuals who agree to an exchange that benefits both of them. (If there was no mutual benefit, why would they do it!)

It requires no Gooferment intervention. Ever!

Force prevention (i.e., physical security) is RESPONSIBILITY of the parties involved. They will probably subcontract that responsibility to who ever rents the space for the exchange to them.

Fraud prevention (i.e., some one breaches the contract) is handled by the marketplace by reputation. Break your word and no one will do business with you.

SO why is a Gooferment bureaucrat (albeit the Head Bureaucrat) trying to mislead us into thinking that some type of “license” is required. At least the highwaymen of olden days just robbed us of our wealth, they didn’t try to confuse us as well!

Argh!

# # # # #

footnote: I was so argh-ravative by this story that I broke my regular publishing schedule to bring this online. One man’s rant in the blog forest. I doubt anyone will notice. Arghhhhh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: MacBookAir decided it needed a power off

Thursday, April 22, 2010

No apparent reason other than it detected an unspecified “problem”.

Upon restarting, it dutifully sent a report off to the Apple Corps Headquarters.

So here we start the MTTR, MTBF, and ELAPSED clocks again.

This is unusual behavior that one would expect of WIndoze, or Microstuff’s Autoupdate?

Perhaps Apple has “clay feet” as well.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | HARDWARE | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: The State is fostering worship of the Earth

Thursday, April 22, 2010

http://njtoday.net/2010/04/19/earth-day-at-the-e-a-r-t-h-center-2/

Earth Day at the E.A.R.T.H. Center
Monday, April 19, 2010

*** begin quote ***

SOUTH BRUNSWICK—Earth Day has long been a time to think globally and act locally. That’s why on Thursday April 22, Middlesex County’s office of Rutgers Cooperative Extension invites you to celebrate the 40th birthday of the modern environmental movement, with Earth Day at the EARTH Center in Davidson’s Mill Pond Park, 42 Riva Avenue, South Brunswick, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Families are encouraged to pack a picnic dinner and blanket to enjoy an evening in the park. The event is intended to familiarize residents with the EARTH Center’s theme of environmental stewardship and encourage them to take action in their own backyards.

*** end quote ***

Isn’t this the State fostering worship of the Earth or Gaia, (the Greek goddess of the Earth), as a substitute for all those other relations.

It’s taught in school.

And, why would they do that?

To increase their power over the Sheeple, silly Citizen. The Gooferment is the King or Tyrant of old and wants no limits on their power. Certainly not by a sect that teaches “Thou shalt not kill” and “Love thy neighbor as thy self”!

Now, personally, as a little L libertarian, I don’t care what you do or do NOT believe in. You can even adore the The Flying Spaghetti Monster and practice Pastafarianism for all I care.

I DO CARE when the State sets up a State Religion and that’s what Earth Day is!

imho

# # # # #

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: The value of strange email addresses

Thursday, April 22, 2010

It’s no secret that I have lots of email addresses.

Some are pretty standard that I use for catch alls. Some are hung off the domains that I own. Some are secret for dedicated purposes. Some for family, friends, social networking, fellow alums, and past coworkers.

I’m always amused when some spammer or ne’er-do-well guesses the address and the bank I use.

Obviously, a bank message on the “wrong” id (e.g., First Superior Bank’s message comes in to me@jumpingkangaroos.com) sticks out like a sore thumb. Just as obvious, an email account dedicated to my bank (e.g., MY BANK @ SUPER secret address dot com) suddenly has weight loss ads. Like a sef-proving affidavit, the message and the account must “align”.

I’m less amused when spam looks like a real message and comes in on an account where it might be valid. Then I have to waste time to recognize the “barbara streisand”.

Argh!

When will we get fully authenticated email?

I find it funny when spam comes to my Yahoo account purporting to be from Yahoo. Is anyone awake at Yahoo? NO ONE, nobody, should be allowed to queue a message that purports to from the provider. Wake up guys. IT isn’t supposed to be short for IDIOT!

Why can’t we have a PKI infrastructure at least with an ISP for starters that would ensure that intra Verizon, Comcast, or other large ISP is authentic?

Argh!

For this IT Architecture weenie doesn’t think this is rocket science!

Fix it guys!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: 2 Google Voice invites

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

*** begin quote ***

You have 2 Google Voice invites left.

*** end quote ***

Anyone want them?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | SERVICE | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Corporations shift their IT costs

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/20/smartphone-mobile-iphone-technology-cio-network-blackberry.html

JargonSpy
The End Of The BlackBerry Elite
Dan Woods, 04.20.10, 06:00 PM EDT
Companies are increasingly allowing workers to use their personal smartphones for work.

*** begin quote ***

And now that smartphones are relatively inexpensive and many workers own one, companies are encouraging employees to use their personal phones for work. One retail executive told me that most of his employees were eager to use their personal phones to stay in touch with work e-mail, and some workers could be reimbursed for their phone and texting charges.

Increasingly, companies are attempting to bring personally owned smartphones into the fold of corporate IT, which in practice usually means providing access to MS Exchange or Lotus Notes. This fits into the vision of Organic IT in which corporate IT is delivered through personal technology.

*** end quote ***

This brings up some interesting questions like ownership, liability, wage ‘n’ hour, and exhaustion. All questions that the CxOs really don’t want to recognize.

When corporate data leaks onto an employee device with the corporations blessing, who owns it? Customer lists take to a competitor by a job changing employee leaps to mind.

What are the liability issues with agreeing to this? An employees answers a email while driving and crashes defends with “the boss made me do it”.

If an employee has to support “off-hours”, what’s the wage ‘n’ hour implications?

If an employee is exhausted and burnt out, what is the costs of the mistakes and replacing them?

And I’m not even a lawyer; just a fat old white guy injineer who has had to “do” it.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Celebrities are are all images; no substance

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

http://www.careersolvers.com/blog/2010/04/13/can-the-holy-swoosh-save-the-tiger-woods-career-brand

Can the Holy Swoosh Save the Tiger Woods Career Brand?

*** begin quote ***

Have you seen the new Nike ad with Tiger Woods featuring the voice of his deceased father? It looks like Tiger may have added some new brand attributes to his already tarnished image including, creepy, odd, and opportunistic. And I’m wondering if Nike and Tiger would have been better off just leaving the scandal alone and letting time heal some of the wounds.

*** end quote ***

No, the “squeaky clean shine” on Woods can’t be recovered. He can be a force in golf. He can sell stuff. He can even become a nice guy. But he’s lost the “image”. His clay feet have cost him dearly. People, the great unwashed like me, don’t like frauds. You can be as nasty an SOB as you like, but don’t claim (or allow to be claimed for you) sainthood. Celebrities like Jane Fonda, Rosie O’Donnell, and Tiger have defrauded the pblic by claiming to be one thing and acting privately like another. People remember the adage: “fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on be me.” With celebrities, it seems the Sheeple are doomed to be disappointed. And, people wonder why we’ve become cynical?

# # # # #

FOOTNOTE:

Jane Fonda: Anti-war sits in a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. I, and many other vets, never forgot that.

Rosie O’Donnell: The Queen of Nice, after she made a fortune on her daytime audience and retired, morphed into a nasty lesbian who demonstrated that the TV personality was a fraud.

Tiger Woods: Squeaky clean image was put to shame by a string of affairs worthy of an NBA player. At least the NBA players never claimed sainthood.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: The TSA is absurd

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

http://cbs2.com/local/Woman.Accused.Of.2.1643774.html

Apr 20, 2010 5:50 am US/Pacific
Woman Accused Of Hitting TSA Agent Over Applesauce
Rita Garcia

*** begin quote ***

CAMARILLO, Calif. (CBS) ― A Camarillo woman is facing a trial for allegedly assaulting a Transportation Security Administration agent at Burbank airport. But the confrontation didn’t involve a gun or a bomb. CBS 2/KCAL 9 has video of the incident.

Nadine Hays is accused of hitting a TSA agent who allegedly tried to take away her elderly mother’s applesauce.

“I just said I am not going to plead guilty to something I did not do,” Hays said.

*** end quote ***

Why do the Sheeple put up with this nonsense?

It’s already demonstrated by more competent experts that this is all “security theater”.

So why do the congresscritters allow this infringement to continue? It allows them to get the Sheeple used to having their rights infringed.

And, they wonder why people regard flying as just above a trip to the dentist?

Wish I was on this woman’s jury. Wish I was on any jury. FIJA anyone.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: My Review of “CHURCH 10●19●62”

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

http://www.itstartedinchurch.com

CHURCH 10●19●62
“It Started In Church – October 19, 1962”
A Review by the Author
Ferdinand John Reinke

*** begin quote ***

This is either a foolish joke, and / or a touching story. I’ve had in my heart and head since I was an Eight Grader at Good Shepherd School in the 1950’s. As an example of TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) fiction that I summarize as: “An alternative future history. What might have been? If Nikta hadn’t blinked. If children were allowed to ‘be all that they could be’. If adults didn’t waste their time and attention on memes and paradigms that are insanity. If I’d known. Shoulda, coulda, and woulda! The human race’s millstone — obsolete thinking. Here’s what I think might have been possible.”

The hardback is suitable as a door stop, bug killer, or fire starter, it is 750+ pages or just under a half a million words directly from the mind of a hormone ravaged fat little kid in Catholic School some fifty years ago. Any way it’s a cheap download or “reasonable priced” hardback. (Depending upon how you define “reasonable”. It’s all about the definitions; like the word “is”.) Please bear in mind, I’m just an injineer with a low index. It’s also available in a two volume paperback at a more modest price.

Obviously influenced by Heinlein and juvenile science fiction, this story is a child’s look at the world. Remember the A bomb drill that had children hide under their school desks. Like that flimsy desk would save them. Look at the pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in their history books of the time. Children would have to be pretty stupid not to know the truth. One joke about the drill was ‘Put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye’. Crude, but terrifyingly accurate. The first half of the story is their time in the shelter; the second half is their trek to safety and their life afterwards. It’s one set of possibilities. So this one child at the time constructed a safe mental world. There, the good guys win and everyone lives (almost) happily ever after. Even in those days, I was a “classical liberal” and knew that government was the problem.

I hope, that should you decide to read it (It is after all just under a half a million words!), you’ll laugh, cry, and ponder. (I did! Often.)

For those foolish enough to buy it, I’d be happy to autograph it for you. Then in 15 or 20 DECADES, some great niece or great-great nephew can be surprised on the Antique Roadshow to find that they have an American Primitive Author First Edition complete with the provenance to prove it’s truly original. (I also offer Certificates of Authenticity at a modest extra fee to cover printing and mailing.) With under a 1,000 copies printed, and one being in the Manhattan College Library, how many do you think will survive? Imagine if you could have bought a First Edition Shakespeare and passed it on. How much would that be worth to you today. Enough to remember crotchety old Great Uncle Fester kindly?

# # # # #

1 Comment | Writing | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: We can’t afford gooferment skrools!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/04/dangers-of-governing-with-mandate-you.html

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The dangers of governing with a mandate you haven’t earned

*** begin quote ***

To be fair, the governor had a disastrous fiscal situation to deal with. The state has been spending more than it has been taking in for years, and it has been clear since the day Jon Corzine took office in 2006 that something had to be done. To his credit, Gov. Christie is attempting to put the state on sounder fiscal footing; his approach, however, ignores public priorities and has little to do with fairness.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, “we” are at the time where the earth is shifting under our “collective feet”.

We, as a society, can no longer afford gooferment supplied “education”.

Sorry, but that is a “facts of life”. There’s just too many “facts”. Too much “overhead”. Too many chiefs. Too many “mandates”. Too many “union rules”. Too little innovation. Too much “entrenched fiefdoms”.

Christie is just one in a long line of politicians who are trying to adjust. Like a soon to be dead fish, flopping around on the dock. A lot of activity without much chance of success.

Dewey and Mann were socialists who brought the Prussian model of education to the USA. It was right for what they wanted to accomplish — socialism. It was, and is, wrong because it’s not what the American people want or need.

As an IT/BPR practitioner, we need to recognize the basics. Parents need to be in charge. Education is just one more aspect of the things a parent needs to provide. We need a plan to migrate from where we are to where we want to be. It took almost 100 years to get into this mess; it will take decades to get out.

Recognizing the problem is the first step!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »