GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Berkeley Removes 20,000* Free Online Videos

Sunday, March 12, 2017

https://reason.com/blog/2017/03/07/berkeley-deletes-200000-free-online-vide

Berkeley Removes 20,000* Free Online Videos to Comply with Insane Department of Justice Ruling
In the name of equality, destroy your valuable public resource
Robby Soave|Mar. 7, 2017 8:31 am

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The handicappers general in the Department of Justice strike again: the University of California, Berkeley, is deleting a massive amount of free, online content in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Berkeley previously housed an online library consisting of more than 20,000 videos of lectures. These videos were free and accessible to the public. But they are free no longer: next week, administrators will withdraw access to anyone who isn’t a Berkeley student or professor.

Why? Because the federal government left them no other choice.

Two employees of Gallaudet University—a school for the deaf in Washington, D.C.—filed a complaint with DOJ alleging that Berkeley’s online content was inaccessible to the hearing-disabled community. After looking into the matter, DOJ determined that Berkeley had indeed violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to Inside Higher Ed.

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I can’t imagine the authors of the ADA intended to destroy a valuable public resource because it wasn’t perfectly accessible to all, but here we are. Taking the quality out of equality: that’s clumsy federal regulation for you.

*** end quote ***

Hard to imagine the logic that this represents.

The “authors of the ADA” have to bear the brunt of the “Unintended Consequences” of STUPID legislation!

I have heard and blogged about the ADA absurdity — like the drivers exam had to be given in Braille.

We really need a Gooferment department of common sense to review all Gooferment actions that impact the public. Sadly, I hate to ask for more bureaucrats but maybe we could have a blue ribbon panel composed of $1/year grumpy fat old white guy injineers, grade school children, and retired poor old senior citizens on a fixed incomes to “staff” this new “department”.

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: The IRS scam now on texts

Saturday, March 11, 2017

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WARNING:I.R.S is filing a lawsuit against you, for more information call on +1-2026979175 on urgent basis otherwise your arrest warrant will be forwarded to your local police department and your properties, social benefits and bank accounts will be frozen by the government.

*** end quote ***

I blocked the phone number when I was called this morning. 

How do I block the text messages?

Argh!

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WARNING:I.R.S is filing a lawsuit against you, for more information call on +1-2026979175 on urgent basis otherwise your arrest warrant will be forwarded to your local police department and your properties, social benefits and bank accounts will be frozen by the government.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Verizon Fios is changing email providers

Saturday, March 11, 2017

2017-Mar-08

Verizon Fios switching over to AOL Mail Servers

Effective April 06, 2017, we’ll no longer provide verizon.net email service. Other than this change, your Verizon service(s) won’t be affected.

We have two options for you to consider below. Please review both options and take action today to avoid losing access to your email.

Choosing an option is easy.

Click here to sign into your verizon.net email account.
Simply select Keep verizon.net email address or Try any other email provider to complete the setup.

Option 1. Keep your current email address with AOL Mail.

By choosing this option you will:

Keep your verizon.net email address
Migrate to AOL Mail
Retain email, contacts and calendar(s) automatically

Option 2. Try any other email provider.

By choosing this option, you will:

No longer be able to use your current verizon.net email address
Establish an account with a mail provider of your choosing like Outlook.com or Gmail
Manually move your email, contacts and calendar(s)

To confirm this message is valid, visit verizon.com and select Announcements under the Tools section at the bottom of the page.

Have questions? More information can be found at verizon.com/Email.

Take action by April 06, 2017 or you’ll lose access to your verizon.net
email account.

Don’t wait, act now.

We hope you are enjoying AOL Mail. We value
Verizon customers and want to make your
transition as smooth as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does AOL have a mobile email app?

When it comes to getting your AOL Mail on your mobile device, you have choices – the Alto for Mobile app or the AOL app. To learn more visit the Verizon Move to AOL Mail: Using the Alto for Mobile App and the AOL App help article.

Can I use a third party email program such as Outlook or Thunderbird, to access my verizon.net email with AOL Mail?

Yes, you can use a third party email program such as Outlook or Thunderbird to access your verizon.net email with AOL Mail.

If you previously used a third party program to access your mail, you simply need to update your password to the one you created when you registered with AOL Mail. To update your password settings, follow the instructions in the help article titled, Verizon Move to AOL Mail: Updating your third party email program or mobile device with your new account information (POP3).

If you would like to use an email client with your new AOL Mail account and you ARE NOT currently using an email client configured with POP3, follow the steps in the help article titled, Verizon Move to AOL Mail: Setting up your new AOL account in a third party email program or mobile device (IMAP).

How do I get support for email or if I notice any problems during the move of my email to AOL?

Refer to our AOL Mail for Verizon Customers Help page for articles related to common questions and additional information about AOL Mail. You can also contact Verizon at 1-800-VERIZON or verizon.com/support.

Check out all FAQs

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©2017 AOL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Another example of why you should not trust any ISP with your email address.

May I suggest that you have your own domain? The common wisdom, or is that common whizdumb, is to own your own name as a domain name. I own “reinke.cc”. (I like saying “sea sea me at reinke.cc”! me@reinke.cc will actually work!) I gives one quite a bit of control. And, it’s very cheap. I know three solutions at 15$/year using wordpressdotcom with gmail, 25$/year email only with 1and1, and 60$/year for domain+email+webspace also at 1and1. My point is not that you should use 1and1. http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=9113251 I could care less which one you use. It’s that getting on to your own domain with email is cheap and easy. And, it’s not hotmail, yahoo, or gmail. It IS your own “personal brand”.

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TECHNOLOGY: Testing WordPress for Google Docs

Friday, March 10, 2017

2017-Mar-08

Now this is a most interesting “feature”.

If it works, then it could make blogging even easier and more “fun”.

We’ll have to test and see.

It claims to carry over everything.

1488932127938207.jpg

INLINE_DRAWING: InlineDrawing

Well, the inline drawing didn’t come over.

Nor the change in font size. Needs some more “testing” but I like it.

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POLITICAL: Why do I identify with the underdog?

Thursday, March 9, 2017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4285968/Epic-battle-British-soldiers-African-tribe.html

What happened AFTER Rorke’s Drift: Remarkable untold story of an epic battle between British soldiers and an African tribe which brought a definitive end to the Zulu War is revealed 140 years after the conflict 

  • Little know (sic) battle between British and Bapedi tribe at Fighting Kopke was a definitive moment in the Zulu War
  • Despite being outnumbered more than three to one and having far less weapons, tribe fought to the very end 
  • Bapedi were finally defeated by Brits and their Swazi allies under the command of Sir Garnet Wolseley in 1879

By Keiligh Baker for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 07:30 EST, 6 March 2017 | UPDATED: 09:43 EST, 6 March 2017 

*** begin quote ***

The remarkable story of an epic battle between British soldiers and a vastly outnumbered African tribe which brought a definitive end to the Zulu War has been revealed in a new book.

The little known Battle at Fighting Kopke was overshadowed by the story of the British defence of Rorke’s Drift which took place 11 months earlier and was later immortalised in the film Zulu.

Following the British annexation of land north of the Vaal River in South Africa in 1877, the native Bapedi tribe had been at loggerheads for two years with the British.

The conflict came to a head in a fierce four day battle at Fighting Kopke where the Bapedi were finally defeated by British troops and their Swazi allies under the command of Sir Garnet Wolseley in November 1879.

*** end quote ***

Tremendous casualties and everyone “loses”.

Hard to feel sympathy for the British and their Empire. Built over the bodies of their fellow human beings.

For some reason, I empathize with the underdog.

I wonder if someday, Americans will be fighting in their own homeland. Hopelessly against insurmountable odds?

It reminds me of: “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? . . .” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Hope I’m wrong, but it might be against our “own” Gooferment someday!

Can’t happen here!

Remember the Japanese internment, Waco, and Ruby Ridge?

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RANT: USPS trying to “help’ — when I really need discard!

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

My USPS® Free Upgrade Offers Preview of Incoming Mail
Example of Informed Delivery on desktop and mobile device

We are excited to announce that the My USPS application will soon be upgraded to offer you more benefits and convenience.

No action is required from you – you will retain your My USPS benefits, but will also have access to Informed Delivery® notifications, a new, free feature that gives you the ability to see a digital preview of your incoming mail. Informed Delivery allows you to view grayscale images of the exterior, address side of your household’s letter-sized mailpieces* on a computer, tablet, or mobile device. This new feature offers the convenience of seeing what is coming to your mailbox – anytime, anywhere.

Now when you log in to your My USPS account, you will be able to track packages and view a preview of your letter-sized mailpieces in one, integrated dashboard. Your dashboard will display mailpiece images for a seven-day period; you can also opt to receive these images via email notification.

To learn more about Informed Delivery notifications, please visit the Informed Delivery FAQs. We are proud to offer you more insight into your mail delivery, and thank you for being a valued USPS customer.

Sincerely,
Your United States Postal Service®

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Now all I need is a way to discard it — electronically.

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RANT: Some charity “leaders” are overpaid

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

FROM WSJ

The Rewards of Charity 

Charities are becoming a lot more generous with pay at the top. The tax-exempt organizations, which include many hospitals and colleges as well as traditional charities, provided seven-figure compensation to roughly 2,700 employees in 2014, our analysis of newly available data shows. The total is higher by a third than in 2011. While many of the big earners ran large enterprises, others were leaders of small charities, such as a couple who run an online ministry. Researchers who study pay at charities say it has been increasing for decades as organizations have grown more professional and adopted pay strategies from the corporate world, where executive compensation has also been on the rise. High pay at charities has drawn scrutiny from some lawmakers because the organizations receive substantial tax breaks for committing to public service.

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I use the Salvation Army as the exemplar.

And all Big Charity entities (i.e., Red Cross; anything connected with the UN or the Clinton Foundation) as the negative!

Sigh!

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INTERESTING: Mushrooms to bricks like the Bible’s straw into bricks

Monday, March 6, 2017

https://hackaday.com/2017/03/05/mycelia-sawdust-house/

MYCELIA + SAWDUST = HOUSE?
Michael Uttmark March 5, 2017

*** begin quote ***

Take a guess. What is the featured picture for this article? If you’re channeling your inner Google image recognition, you might say: “Best guess for this image: rock.” But, like Google, you’d be wrong. Instead, what you see are bricks made out of fungi obtained from tissues of mycelia.

By taking fungi obtained from tissues of mycelia and storing them in a jar filled with a growth medium (usually sawdust), MycoWorks is creating all sorts of materials with exciting properties. In just three to seven days, the fungi and sawdust mixture expands and forms into clumps of material, which are then used to create products like handbags, purses, bricks, you name it. According to co-founder Phil Ross, “production of this material is similar to making ravioli from scratch, and the final product is more resilient than concrete.”

*** end quote ***

Wow, just look at the video, it’s extremely impressive. 

A building material that won’t break in an earthquake!

A simply stunning idea.

Like that college professor who reengineered plywood to make it “bullet proof” (actually flying debris proof; think the movie “Twister”), this could revolutionize the home / office building meme — fireproof and earthquake proof buildings?

Ahh, to be a young injineer again with these “paints” on your “palette”!

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MONEY: Can the PBGC go broke?

Sunday, March 5, 2017

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-03/pension-benefit-guarantee-corporation-running-out-cash-millions-affected

Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation Running Out Of Cash, Millions Affected
by Tyler Durden Mar 3, 2017 5:08 PM

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The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), an entity created to “guarantee” pensions of private corporations, is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Teamsters and other unions are poised to take huge pension hits. Previously, airline employees have taken a hit.

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Can the Gooferment ever run out of the money it prints?

But that being said this is one of those “unfunded liabilities” in that “the current 18T+ national debt and the guesstimated 200T+ in unfunded liabilities that our posterity will have to deal with” that I grouse about.

Now unless the life span of fat old white guy injineers magically increases, I won’t be around for when the crushing debt and defaults hit. 

Personally, I think the Gooferment politicians and bureaucrats will just inflate the debt away and there goes any savings denominated in dollars. 

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POLITICAL: What are the politicians and bureaucrats trying to hide

Saturday, March 4, 2017

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/california-supreme-court-no-you-cant-hide-public-records-on-a-private-account/#p3

SO MUCH FOR PRIVATE SERVERS —
California Supreme Court: No, you can’t hide public records on a private account
“Open access to government records is essential.”
CYRUS FARIVAR – 3/2/2017, 2:28 PM

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The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that state and local officials must disclose public records even if those “writings” are held on private devices or accounts. The City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara had argued that such records could be exempted from the California Public Records Act.

*** end quote ***

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

That’s why I wouldn’t make a good politician and bureaucrat. I’d put ll my email on the blockchain.

Laugh!

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Posted by reinkefj

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