Blizzards & Term Limits

At about noon, on Dec. 26, it started to snow here in New York City. At 7:30 P.M., on Dec. 31, Times Square looks like it never even snowed, yet the main streets in my neighborhood have been given a half-assed plowing, and the side streets have six inch divots and ditches in the ice surface, because they were never plowed.

I could complain about how government is ineffective, but then I would sound like an anarchist. Since, that is not my goal, I just want to say this. If you are still buried in snow and voted for Bloomberg's third term, shut the fuck up! You had your chance to get rid of him, after his term-limited second term, but you didn't. Now, you are getting what you deserve.

Bloomberg's third term is not about doing anything, as this blizzard shows. It was all about him saying "fuck you" to the term limits. It was all about power for him. Why the hell else would a millionaire spend millions of his own money to get or keep a job that pays less than a million dollars? Is that the kind of businessman we need to get this city out of its economic woes?

The only thing that disgusts me more than Bloomberg's arrogance and incompetence is the stupidity of New York City's voters. Enjoy trudging through the snow to watch a pristine Times Square celebration, dumbasses.

Conservatives

I spent some time on Newsvine this weekend, and boy was it enlightening. Here are my observatives about conservatives:

1) They never let the facts get in the way of making their point;
2) They don't have faith in their leaders. They worship them;
3) They are not content in disagreeing with liberals. They invent evils to blame on liberals, to justify their hatred;
4) They are really sensitive about the things that effect them, with no sensitivity for things that effect anyone else;
5) They love to lie about everything;
6) There is no evil that has been commited by a conservative that wasn't the liberals' fault.
7) They love Fox, which means that the hate truth;
8) They are Christian, though not Catholic, which would probably explain why they are anything but Christ-like, in word or deed;
9) They really hate colored people (except John Boehner);
10) They are blissfully unaware of the fact that this country is going to hell in a handbasket, because of their staunch refusal to accept facts and act according.

It seems that when a conservative is confronted with a challenge or crysis, name-calling, distorting the truth, and burying their heads in the sand seem to be their goto moves.

Bob Beckel, go fuck yourself!

On Julian Assange,

Bob Beckel: "We’ve got special ops forces. I mean, a dead man can’t leak stuff. This guy’s a traitor, a treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. The guy ought to be—and I’m not for the death penalty—so if I’m not for the death penalty, there’s only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch."

I am not a journalist or a politician, but I know three things:

1) Fox is as much a journalistic endeavor, as Bob Beckel is intelligent,

2) Bob Beckel doesn't let facts get in the way of making an ass of himself,

3) Bob Beckel is a moron!

I'll deal with the most obvious first. Do you really think that our 'special ops forces' need to be distracted from catching Osama Bin Laden, just to shoot someone that is in British custody?

Next, while Mr. Assange may have 'broken every law of the United States' (which I doubt, considering he has not owned a slave, to my knowledge), he is not "a traitor, a treasonous'. He can't be, because he is not a U.S. citizen.

Finally, to advocate that someone, much less the government, 'illegally shoot the son of a bitch' does not compromise your stance on the death penalty, because the death penalty is a genarally accepted practice within the judicial system. What you are advocating, Mr. Beckel, is that someone operate outside the law.

Mr. Beckel, you are a moron.

US v. Wikileaks (or US v. Freedom)

In this increasingly volatile opera known as Wikileaks, the United States has shown its true colors and become the standard bearer for oppressive regimes. By the United States, I mean the government, corporations, and the media.

The release of the "Collateral Murder" video and the "Afghan War Diaries" were legitimate releases of information that any government would want to keep secret from its citizenry. I know that the AP found vindication in its claim that U.S. soldiers killed innocent civilians and reporters, because Collateral Murder showed exactly what they claimed. This certainly didn't look good for the government, so as is normal, instead of reacting, the government over-reacted, by starting to mess with Wikileaks. How? Well, before these inflated charges of rape in Sweden came to the forefront, the government started messing with Wikileaks' financial resources and the providers of services facilitating them, and the government also tried to detain and intimidate a Wikileaks representative at the Next H.O.P.E. conference in New York City, in July of this year. So, does the U.S. government learn its lesson? No! Instead of accepting that the embarassment of the latest release of State Department communications was a direct result of their threatening Wikileaks, the government, with the forewarning of the existence of a file named 'insurance', stepped it up a notch. By calling on their corporate masters, the government has waged a full scale war against freedom. Amazon, Paypal, Mastercard, and Visa are now fighting the battle that the government was too petulent to admit it lost.

Well, the U.S. government is stupid, but these corporations are worse, because they are arrogant. After the distributed denial of service attacks have concluded, these corporations will go back to doing what they do best, secretly raping consumers with the blessing of the government. I hope that, before that happens, Anonymous is successful in causing monetary damage to these corporations, with Operation Payback, but more importantly, financial retribution must be paid by the consumer, in boycotting these corporations as enemies of free press and free speech.

The failure of the government to act responsibly is not surprising, because the government is made up of people who are greedy for power. The failure of corporations to act responsibly is not surprising, because corporations are made up of people who are greedy for money. The failure of the U.S. media is not surprising, because of, something less sinister but equally as dangerous, incompetence. In a country where Oprah Winfrey is considered a journalist, I am not surprised that 'real' journalists are not a) accurately reporting on this and b) standing with and in defense of Wikileaks. After the Wikileaks site was shutdown by Amazon and mirrors sites started springing up, media companies should have shown support by providing a mirror; yet CNN, Viacom (CBS), Disney (ABC), and General Electric (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC) are standing by idly, because profits are more important than the exercise of free speech and free press. The newspaper sites, also owned by these same corporations (thank very much, FCC), are suspiciously quite, as well. The New York Times has forsaken Wikileaks, but they have no problem selling newspapers with the material provided by Wikileaks. I guess that is why the New York Times is called 'the paper of record' and not the paper of integrity.

I would also lay blame at the feet of the citizens of the United States, but they are too indifferent to give a damn. All they care about are:

1) Low prices, which is why they shop at Walmart, then complain that there are no more Mom 'n Pops, and trample each other the day after Thanksgiving,

2) Gays and how many rights they are willing to allow the LGBT community to enjoy,

3) Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, and all of the other minutia that leaves their brains so atrophied that Sarah Palin looks like a viable candidate for elected office beyond the one she quit.

So, when Congressmen like Peter King call Wikileaks terroists and Senators like Joseph Leiberman want to write laws specifically targetting Wikileaks, the American people let them get away with it, because they are too busy spending money on things they do not need but buy, just because they are the latest thing or on sale, arguing about gay marriage, or watching Dr. Phil to notice that journalists are being equated with Osama Bin Laden and Congress is planning to act in a manner that is expressly forbidden by the U.S. Constitution.

When all is said and done, freedom of the press will be weakened, the corporations that facilitated it will find a way to profit from it, and the American public simply won't care. I don't expect the government to change. I tried that in 2008 and am still waiting.

Nick DiPaolo

I was an avid fan and listen of Nick DiPaolo's radio show, a few years ago. I was, in fact, a regular caller. In light of the Wikileaks issue that is going on, I am reminded of something regarding Nick.

If I remember correctly, Nick was talking about some 'muslim' looking people on a plane 'chanting', 'praying', or doing something that made white christian people uncomfortable. I remember calling in to the show to tell Nick that profiling was illegal, and religious freedom was legal. Now here is the one thing that I remember clearly, Nick said that since 9/11, "the world has changed."

I want to get to my point quickly, so I will state this now. I do not know anyone that died that day, and I did not see either plane hit those buildings. I was in NYC, and I didn't see either building collapse, because I went to my job at the time and (while we had a television) I had a job to do. On Sept. 12, I still had to wake up, in this changed world, and go do my job, but the one thing that I knew was that this country would only change for the better.

Well, I was wrong. You see, when I was growing up, I was forced to go to school, and I was taught that if the U.S. Constitution was to be changed, it could only be done through an amendment. Apparently, the money my mother spent on Catholic school was wasted, because the U.S. Constitituion can be changed by terrorist attacks, corporate money, and the Internet.

Nick, I still love your comedy, but you and all of the douchebags that think that the 1st Amendment is only selectively applicable need to realize that a) the 1st Amendment applies to everyone and b) the 1st Amendment is not for those that say what is popular, because you don't need protection.

I am official no longer a republican.

When I was growing up, the Democrats were the party of "welfare". That is what I was told, every time I asked what the difference between the Democrats and Republicans was. Growing up in the East New York section of Brooklyn, I saw my hard-working mother in the morning and at night, Monday through Friday. Of course, I couldn't see her on the weekend because I had to go with my father to that God-forsaken sandbar known as Staten Island. In the 1970's, New York City was not a nice place. Not having your single mother readily accessible made it worse. Seeing other kids with both of their welfare recipient parents made me bitter. On $54 a week ($26 for me, and $26 for my brother), my mother raised us. She worked hard, and with the exception of subjecting us to Catholic schools, she did a damn good job. So I wanted to try to make her life better when I turned 18.

I registered to vote in 1990, as a Republican. At that time, George Bush (the good one) was president, we (the U.S.) won the Cold War (under the previous administration, in which he was the Vice-President of), and things were pretty much going good. In 1992, I voted for Bush, and he lost. I voted for Guilani for mayor in 1993, and he won. I voted for Pataki in 1994, and he won. I didn't vote in 1995. I couldn't vote for Dole in 1996. He was such a douchebag. Guiliani got my vote again in 1997, but that was the last time I voted. Why? Because all of a sudden, strip clubs started being outlawed.

That was the first sign of the christian takeover of the Republican party, which ultimately led to the hijacking of the highest office by George Bush (the incompetent). I didn't vote for him, and in 2004, I was tempted to vote for Kerry, but he seemed as spineless as Bush was stupid.

In 2008, McCain, especially after chooing the dimwit from Wasilla, stood a better chance of seeing God than getting my vote, but I couldn't kin good conscience vote for a Democrat, even if it was Barack Obama.

Well, here we are in 2010, and I didn't vote, but I am planning to move my residence into the Congressional District that has Anthony Weiner as its representative. Maybe it is just a Brooklyn thing, but he is the only Democrat in my lifetime that I can believe in. I would fully endorse his run for a Senate seat or any other public office. Between 'christian values' and subservience to corporations and the rich, the republican party will never get my vote, ever again, unless Joe Scarborough runs for office again.

Of course, the Democratic party needs to follow Anthony Weiner's lead and grow a spine. Stand up and fight. The only way this country stays in the middle is if the left fights the right; otherwise, the middle moves further and further to the right, which is how 'right-wing' Justice Stevens ended up being a liberal.

Wikileaks & Treason

To all of you schmucks that are throwing the word 'treason' around, Are you aware of the fact that the U.S. Constitution defines only one crime? Not only does it define the crime, but it states EXPLICITLY the only two conditions upon which a person may be convicted of it. That crime is treason, and its definition and terms of conviction are found in Article 3, Section 3. I would quote it, but a) you wouldn't believe me and b) I am stooping down to your level to say, look it up on the Internet.

Here is another interesting fact, for all of you who are calling for Julian Assange to be executed (Mike Huckabee), censored (Sarah 'what color is the sky in your world' Palin), and declared a terrorist (Peter 'the best that Long Island has to offer' King). only U.S. citizens can be tried for treason under the U.S. Constitution. Huckabee's a christian, so I know he won't let facts get in the way, Palin's got enough trouble trying to breathe with her head that far up her ass, but King is in Congress. He should know better. The power he has (real or imagined) is derived from the Constitution. You think he might have read it. Apparently, education in the suburbs is just as bad as in the city.

Double Parking & Alternate Side of the Street Parking

There is something funny going on in New York City. On days that there are alternate side of the street parking rules in place, I see a lot of double parked cars on the oppsite side of the street. When I say a lot, I mean from one corner of the block all the way to the other end of the block. But I don't see it everywhere; I only see it in predominantly white neighborhoods, like Bay Ridge, Park Slope, and whatever you call that neighborhood that Brooklyn Tech is in. Why does this bother me? Well, it bothers me mainly because I never see a parking ticket on any of these vehicles. Hell, I've, on two occasions, driven behind vehicles with people with the authority to write tickets down a block which was lined with double parked cars. One was a "traffic" car and the other was a standard police car. I've even seen a traffic cop walking down a block to write a ticket for a car that was parked at the wrong place at the wrong time, while passing by quite a few double parked cars.

It seems odd to me that there is a whole revenue stream that is waiting to be tapped, at the very least to offset the NYPD's expensive habit of costing this city millions of dollars by violating peoples rights. What I don't find odd is that all of this free double parking only takes place in areas where that are no spics and niggers. Apparently, the United States, New York State, and New York City governments have oppressed white people so much that they realize that white people are not a good source of revenue. Spics and niggers have it really good in this country, state, and city, which means that we have all of this expendable income, yet we don't double park our cars. Why is that? Are we just selfishly trying to keep our massive hordes of money out of the governments' hands? Or is it that police and traffic cars don't pass up a chance to write a ticket in Brownsville, Flatbush, or any other predominantly minority neighborhood?

You figure it out!

Peter King & Sarah Palin

This is to address the BAT-SHIT CRAZY wrong-wing response to Wikileaks.

To Peter King:
You motherfucking douchebag. You are the absolute worst piece of shit to rise out of the cesspool of New York State known as Long Island, as represented by the district that elected you twice. To equate Wikileaks with Al Qaeda is the same as calling the New York Times the Viet Cong. What the fuck is wrong with you, and more importantly, what the fuck is wrong with those racist, christian, white, entitled, sanctimonous pieces of shit that elected you?

To Sarah Palin:
You stupid fucking cunt! I would go further, but I know that I would be preaching to the choir. And for those that disagree, they probably can't read anyway, which explains how Peter King and Sarah Palin got elected. But just in case, the 1st Amendment applies to everyone in this country, not just you. In fact, the U.S. Constitution applies to everyone, not just you. Why don't you go fuck yourself and stop populating this world with "God's children"? We have had enough of "God's children" with George W.

U.S. v Wikileaks

So, here we go. President Obama and his administration and acting exactly as I would expect the Cheney administration to act, which means that they are acting completely contrary to what was promised when 'change' was in order.

I have seen a blog post somewhere that lists exhaustively all of the things that the Obama administraton has done. The list is quite impressive, but it really consists mostly of the stuff that is expected of any elected official, even if you have to deal with the largest collection of proof as to why abortion must remain legal in this country (the Republican Party). Speaking of abortions, I will address Peter King and Sarah Palin later, but for now, let's deal with the whole Wikileaks issue.

So, to make a long story short, PFC Bradley Manning felt that it was his ethical obligation to make publicly available the evil deeds, missteps, war crimes, or whatever you want to call it. The video of American soldiers killing Iraqi civilians and AP journalists from a helicopter gets published. That's real fucking brave. You couldn't even land and give them a fighting chance, could you? No, I didn't think so. The futility of the Afghan war is revealed by another publication, and suddenly Julian assange has charges pending in Sweden. Gee, what a fucking surprise. The Pirate Bay is guilty of violating copyright laws that do not aplly to them and now manufactured sexual assault charges just happen to spring up against the head of the one website that the U.S. government would really like to see shutdown (but can't do in the same way that it does with torrent sites, because that would be censorship, and the U.S. government doesn't censor - because of the 1st Amendment- they just implicate people for rape). I'm starting to think that Sweden has a better chance of being a state before Puerto Rico. Back to the short story; some more 'pressure' is put one Wikileaks, and now here we are. The U.S. State Department's dirty laundry is now being aired. Shit from before the Internet existed is now exposed. Why?

Because the Obama administation is just the same old thing. Meet the new boss; same as the old boss. There are many ways that Obama could have distingished himself from his predecessors. Prosecuting the Bush administration for war crimes is one way. Not appealling the ruling of DADT as unconstitutional is another one. Pressing the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to force the Republicans to stand up and actually filibuster the health care reform bill also comes to mind.

Let's face it. we should have vote for Hillary Clinton, instead of Barack Obama. With Hillary Clinton as the first female president, she may be a bitch, but at least she would be nobody's bitch. Instead we voted for the first black president, and we got the house nigger. If we elected Hillary maybe we would have gotten a president with balls.

President Obama, if you want to stop Wikileaks, here is how you do it. Stop the killing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and anywhere else that U.S. operative, spies, and soldiers are depriving the rights of indiginous people of the right that you claim to be defending for Americans. Stop using U.S. clout in the world to exert corporate agendas. And finally, stop trying to get Julian Assange arrested in other countries for manufactured allegations, stop asserting pressure on their financial resources, and stop with the "national security" rhetoric. Wikileaks, just like Woodward and Bernstein, are making public (in a responsible manner) things the republic needs to know. Without Woodward, Bernstein, and Wikileaks, this country would live in the tunnel vision that would be the Cheney administration's ideal populous.

The TSA, Total Stupidity Always!

After hearing and reading about all of this stuff regarding the TSA, the full body scanners, and the enhanced patdowns, I think it is finally time for me to weight in.

The TSA are slouth-like in their reaction to anything and everything that they should be proactive in. The 'shoe bomber' got by airport security, and instead of devising a comprehensive plan to prevent anyone from bordering a plane with those chemicals, they made us take off our shoes. In response to those same chemicals being sneaked on to a plane, now passengers must be exposed to radiation and/or what amounts to a sexual assault. From what I have read, the enhanced patdown was intentionally made to be as intrusive and humilitating as possible, to strong arm compliance with the full body scanners.

To the people who say, "If you don't like it, you don't have to fly", "Yeah, it's going a bit far, but we have to do it for security", and all of the other nonsense that justifies the offering up of my rights for your false sense of safety, I have this to say: "If you want safety and security, you should be the one to stay home or take a bus or train." I am fucking tired of you pussies sacrificing my rights for your illusion of security.

Security is not a product. It is a process. You think that if you buy antivirus software you can do anything on the Internet, but Norton cannot protect you from yourself. You think that the government can protect you from terrorists, but where was the government on September 11, 2001. If I recall correctly, the government was running the show on that day. Just like putting a lock on the door to your house is useless unless you lock it, understand that security is useless if your reactionary and more so if you are over-reactionary.

Don't get me wrong, I think that terrorism is a real concern, but I don't think that the government is utilizing it's resources properly,or possibly legally. First, just with their procedure, TSA is either exposing you to radiation at levels that even the FDA (the people who decide what is safety for human consumption) hasn't determined the safety of, sexually assaulting you, or interfering with a contract between you and the carrier. Second, the intelligence community is our first line of defense, not these glorified mall cops (again 9/11/01). Third, am I the only one who has seen how long the lines are? Am I the only one that has noticed that long lines have a lot of people? How long will it be before the airplane is no longer the target and getting on them is no longer the objective, and how will the TSA over-react then? Al-Qeada are sneaky and unscrupulous, and if you want to fight them and win, you don't do it by letting people who aren't smarter than a 5th grader do to you what we all have made jokes about Micheal Jackson doing to children. You have to think like them, you have to think about what you would do, and you act to prevent the next thing, not the last one.

Finally, the TSA screens the pilots. WTF? They are flying the fucking plane. What the fuck does the TSA think it is doing by running the pilots through the screening process? I don't know how to fly a plane, but I do know that a pilot doesn't need a bottle of water, a boxcutter, or explosives hidden in his/her underwear to commit a terrorist attack. I had to go through a Dept. of Homeland Security background check to get a job babysitting a computer lab at a bottom of the barrel college. I would like to think that pilots are being constantly monitored, reviewed, and evaluated by both their employers and the DHS.

The use of bodyscanners and enhanced patdowns should be used in conjunction with the profiling process, similar to the model used in Israel, and after it has established a reasonable suspicion. From what I have heard, the Israeli screening process is effective, and from a practical standpoint, it is capable means of catching those that fall through the cracks of the intelligence community. Otherwise, we can go back to the metal detectors.

Fvck You, Microsoft!

I'm heading home today, after spending a few days at my mother's house. While I was here, I finally got fed up with her asking me to fix her laptop, running Windows Vista; so, I booted up Mepis 8.5 (KDE4), Mepis AnTiX 8.5 (icewm, and my personal choice), and Linux Mint Debian Edition (Gnome, with the mintmenu) and told her to pick which interface she preferred. Her choice was LMDE.

With diligence, I installed and configured her laptop, while watching the nail-biting Jets game (they won). I ran into a bit of a snap with her particular printer (an HP Laserjet P1006), but that is working, as is her wifi, sound, and hotkeys.

I have a little bit more work to do, as far as making all of her data available from both OS's, but my mom likes her initial impression of Linux. Her Firefox bookmarks and Thunderbird emails are all there. She has both applications, as well as OpenOffice, in both OS's, and as a safety net, she has Vista to fall back on, if she runs into a problem that I can't fix remotely (over the phone or via ssh).

Congratulations Linux, you have one more user among your ranks. BTW, fuck you Microsoft.

Me 1, CityTech 0!

So, for those of you unfortunate enough to be a current student of the NYC College of Technology (ShittyTech), you know about their new login page to access the Internet.

If you are not a student or faculty member, you cannot access the 'net, even if you are an employee. Well, that is unless you are me. The IT department should be fired for their ineptitude. Anyone with the most basic understanding of networking can (and has, even though my knowledge of networking borders on extensive) figure out how to bypass this puny system, and this not subject themselves to the spyware that CityTech uses (see prior post).

I'm not going to give it away, but let's just say it involves Google.

The irony!

Isn't it odd that all of those conservative right-wing pundits and political commentators on Fox, who oppose immigration, receive their paycheck from someone who was born in Australia?

I guess they don't mind immigration that much.

Term Limits Pass AGAIN, in NYC!

Here is a question for all of the voters in New York City. Last year, after the city counsel and the mayor overturned the term limits that were voted on and passed twice, why the fuck did you vote them all back in? If you truly believe in term limits, why the hell did you re-elect the very people who not only ignored the twice mandated term limits, but also made it retroactively applicable to themselves?

And on a side note, to the tea party, close but no cigar. Hooray, you have wrested control of the House (their incompetence will be corrected in two years), but you didn't get the Senate, and the White House is still at least two years away, unless you nominate the dimwit from Wasilla.

Goodbye, Sidewinder.

Today, I came to the sad realization that I must part with my beloved Sidewinder Force Feedback Steering Wheel. I tried to keep it for as long as I could, but there comes a time when you have to let some things go.

When the red rubber grip started to separate from the rim, I cut it off and taped it. That was actually more comfortable. But for the past few months, I have struggled with a way to fix the pedals, after wearing out the springs. Nothing worked well enough; so, today, I disconnected and disassembled the wheel and pedals and placed them in the trash.

I could replace it with another one, but I think I will seriously look into a G27. If that is too far out of my budget, then I guess I'll have to find something else.

Until then, I guess I'll be playing a lot of FPS's. There is something to be said about listening to Judas Priest's "Painkiller" album, while playing "Painkiller".

The NYPD costs NYC another million.

Apparently, the Republican (term-limits don't apply to me) mayor of New York City, Micheal Bloomberg does believe in the redistribution of wealth, as long as it is not his wealth.

His method, stangely, is to take New York City's financial resources and give them to private citizens who have been victimized by the NYPD. I've mentioned previously, the Sean Bell award, the $30K for a photographier, and the $100K for the bicyclist whose attack was posted on YouTube. Well, you can now add one million more of New York City's dollars to the total, this time going to Critical Mass, for having their rights violated by the NYPD.

Yet another reason why this city is broke.

An old Thinkpad.

I was given an old IBM Thinkpad 600e. It's not the worst computer I've ever used, but I must say one thing about it; DON'T try to install any Debian based system on it!

I have tried to get the sound working on this damn thing, using every tutorial, how-to, and bit of advice I could find on the 'net. Now, I could try out Fedora/Red Hat; but first, I am going to try Slackware (Actually, Absolute Linux, because it is lightweight). I have read that it detects and loads the correct driver automatically. We'll see what happens.

Update: I HAVE SOUND! Here is how:

1) Start with a Debian install (not any of the derivative distros, and certainly not Ubuntu)
2) Follow these instructions to the letter:
http://wiki.debian.org/snd-cs46xx
3) Make sure you disable 'Quick Boot' in the BIOS.

WTF!

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/10/01/158239/New-York-To-Spend-275-Million-Uncapitalizing-Street-Signs?from=rss

Switching Distros, Part 3

Goddamn BSD's! I have the one Broadcom BCM43xx chip that they can't get working, the BCM4311.

NYPD Fail, Part 2

Has anyone noticed that the NYPD is very predictable? If you travel on the Staten Island ferry, you will notice exactly how predictable the NYPD is. How exactly are they keeping the passengers safe when they always search the bicyclists, regardless of the size of their bag, and only check "large" bags of the passengers that walk on?

Now, far be it for me to tell an inept government agency how to better violate my rights, but it seems that aside from rust and crashing into the docks, passengers have the incompetence of the NYPD to fear. With no more than 20 trips, at various time of day and night, an utter moron (with the obvious exception being a NYC police officer) can observe the flaws in this system and plan something potentially cataclysmic. I'm not giving anybody any ideas (there are enough sick fucks out there, without my giving them suggestions), but I am considering swimming from Brooklyn to Staten Island, from now on.

NYPD Fail!

That piece of shit that attacked the bicyclist, arrested him, then falsified the report: $100,000

Sean Bell: $7 million

That photographer in the Bronx: $30,000

The little girl who died this week, because another piece of shit didn't want to do what we pay him to do: TBA.

Is it any wonder why this city is broke?

Kill All the Librarians

What the fuck is wrong with the Brooklyn Public Library branch on Flatbush Ave. & Ave. P? The librarians let children run around making noise, but I can't sit in a corner, on my laptop. Why would I be sitting in the corner? Because that is the only other place with electrical outlets.

There is a "designated" section for people to use their laptops, right smack dab in the middle of the children's section, next to the children's computers. The only other outlets are next to the adult computers, on the other side of the library, but I can't use those, because government employees are all fucking retarted. I mean Sarah Palin's children retarded. I mean Glenn Beck retarded. I mean Tea Party retarded.

Why the fuck should I continue to pay taxes to fund a library that I cannot use? That stupid cunt told me that if I wanted a quiet environment, I would have to go to the library in the morning. What the fuck!?!?! When I was a kid, libraries were always quiet, not just until 3 o'clock.

Oh well, if I am forced to sit in the children's section, I guess I could make them regret it. Maybe I'll start researching pornography.

Switching Distros, Part II

Well, Mepis AntiX is where the wheel stopped spinning. On only my second distro, I am quite happy with it, mainly because I kept most of my settings for fluxbox, and the few that needed tweaking were minor.

Now, what do I do with that 12GB partition that sidux is on? I could give BSD a try, either DesktopBSD or PC-BSD. Both are KDE based, while GhostBSD just released an installable GNOME based variant (I feel dirty calling BSD's distros).

If I install a BSD, expect part 3.

Switching Distros (or Why Windows still sucks)

I am going through the transition period of evaluating which distro I am going to switch to, on my laptop. sidux has been good to me, but I have to change. I am currently evaluating Ubuntu lucid. I left Ubuntu hardy because of stability issues with my Broadcom card, but that seems to have been fixed. My Canon Powershot A470 works with F-spot on Ubuntu but not sidux (the camera didn't work with anything on sidux). Finally, I will be using the 32-bit version because the douche bags at Adobe stopped supporting Flash on 64-bit Linux (I'll rant about those cocksuckers later).

I installed Ultimate Edition 2.7, and now I have the full suite of GNOME, KDE, XFCE and LXDE applications to choose from. Hurray! The first thing I am doing is installing fluxbox and wicd. The WM is a personal preference, but I cannot understand why GNOME, Ubuntu or anyone else would continue to use gnome-network-manager, when wicd is clearly the easiest graphical networking tool (ceni is the easiest text-based one).

As for the other applications, there are some that I will not replace (transmission, Firefox, and Kontact), and there are some that may not make the cut (Exaile, Bluefish). I may go back to a full-blown desktop, but I will probably stick with good old fluxbox. We'll see.

Update: I tried Ubuntu 10.04. It seems more complicated that when I last used it (Hardy). I'll give Mepis AntiX a try. That comes with fluxbox and icewm, along with a bunch of applications that have one thing in common; they are light. I'll add the heavy stuff myself.

On the WTC Mosque.

If we are to judge an entire religion based on a small, and probably the worst representative, sample, then I suggest the Burlington Coat factory reopen its warehouse. Why?

Well, I don't think the KKK's activities would allow us to let a Protestant church be build there. A recent attack on an unarmed humanitarian aid flotilla makes Jews no better than Somali pirates; so, there goes the chance of a synagogue. I would say something about Scientology, but I only criticize religions.

And finally, my favorite whipping boy, the Catholics. Jonathan Oliver said on "The Daily Show" last night, "The Catholics have the right to build a church next to a playground, but is it a good idea?"

Which brings me to the whole argument about this mosque. The last great plea of those without no legal reason to oppose it use the only justification the possibly can to deny anyone of anything they don't like, "Because it hurts our feelings."

Look you fucking pussies; if your marriage is so threaten by homosexuals getting married, then maybe you are not mature enough for marriage. If you feel so threatened by immigrants, go where they are leaving, to get away from them. And finally, if you cannot find it in your heart to love, accept, and/or tolerate those of a different religious faith (or mental defect, as I see it), maybe your regilious faith and ethics are the ones that you should be questioning.

And one more thing, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and all of you "conservative" right-wing douchebags. Fuck you! Stay out of NYC politics.

Got hit by a $ van today.

Oh well, hopeful the cops will catch the guy who hit and run me. I did get a photo of his licencse plate, but not of him.

Libraries!

You know, when I was a kid, you were supposed to be quiet in libraries. Of course, when I was a kid, I could read the signs, many of which said to be quiet.

Since I cannot use the Brooklyn Public Library, can I stop paying taxes for it?

Buh-bye T-bird!!

I have found an all-in-one replacement for Thunderbird. I have discovered the elegance and beauty known as Kontact! With all of the necessary components, I have email, an address book, RSS feeds, a calendar, notes, to-do lists, and a journal.

After trying:

Claws-mail: I would have preferred to use it for its light weight, but it didn't have the functionality I needed.

Evolution: Extremely difficult to deal with, and somewhat unstable.

Balsa: the least functional of them all. All it does is email.

RSSOwl: Not bad, but a one trick pony. BTW, the only I've tried reader that can handle a Google Reader feed.

Liferea: Another standalone reader.

I have settle down into a somewhat hefty KDE interface, but it does everything I tried to get Thunderbird to do, which ended up making Thunderbird hefty, too. The only thing I can't do is move an RSS article from a feed into an IMAP folder, which I used to be able to do with Thunderbird.

Now I am quite happy. Let's see how long the honeymoon lasts.

Where do I go from Thunderbird?

I was sharing my firefox and thunderbird profiles between Windows Vista (yuck), Windows XP (eh), and Linux (hooray), but yesterday I ran into a missing extension in firefox and no profile in thunderbird. It turned out that ntfs is just as flawed a file system as fat32.

After rebuilding my thunderbird profile, I started running into all of the headaches that 3.0 introduced into the otherwise happy lives of thunderbird users. So, now I am on a quest to find a replacement email client and RSS reader. If I can get both and an integrated calendar, I'll be as happy as a conservative slandering Obama.

I am no longer requiring it to be cross platform, as I only boot into Vista to provide other victims with tech support and XP to play games. In the event that I have to check my email in either of those inferior OS's, I'll open firefox.

I'll let you know how it goes.

And more about Facebook.

After reading through this:

http://www.bspcn.com/2010/05/16/facebook-whats-changed-why-you-should-care/

can somebody tell me why they still use Facebook?

KFC's Double Down

The only idea worse than that "sandwich" was me ordering one. I had the grilled variant, and it was a greasy, rubbery, tasteless mass of I don't know what. KFC claims that the sandwich consists of bacon and cheese, between two pieces of chicken. I am still struggling to remember if I was able to taste any of those things.

For $5+, I was hoping for something better than that hot mess.

Apple's 1984 ad?!?!

We all know about Apple's famously aired once Super Bowl ad, depicting a computing world as George Orwell's "1984", but was that ad Steve Jobs criticism of Microsoft or his aspiration?

I have heard of Apple's free speech infringing lawsuits against Mac fansites, increasingly locked down hardware, exclusionary tactics of software, and outwardly unfriendly stance toward the open-source software community (whose productivity was apparently good enough to build their computers on top of).

Now, I could rant about the whole iPhone/Gizmodo issue, but I so sick of it, I am starting to vomit in florescent colors. What really got under my skin, was reading about Ellen DeGeneres having to apologize to Apple for a parody. WTF!

Fuck you, Steve Jobs! You are Big Brother, and I would love to take a sledge hammer and throw it in your face!

Some more Facebook goodness.

I wish I had this to post on Facebook, before I "deactivated" my account.

http://www.bspcn.com/2010/05/04/top-10-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook/

I am going to delete my Facebook account, and this is why:

http://bit.ly/b0pE1R

I figure that by Monday, everyone would have read the same link on FB and know why I am not there anymore.

Edit: As of 12 noon, May 3, 2010, I have cancelled my Facebook account. Fuck you, Mark Zuckerberg!

Does HP even want to sell these?

HP iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld
FA979AA#ABA

http://bit.ly/ao1GQe

At $300, why would anyone want to buy this thing. It is a PDA. You can get a smartphone for less that does everything and allows you to make phone calls. You could get a netbook for about the same price and have more processing power, RAM, storage capacity, and applications.

So what's the deal HP? Why are you selling a product that is past its prime at a premium? It's not like PDA's set the world on fire before smartphones and netbooks. What does this device offer, to justify the expense?

Rest In Peace Peter Steele

The world has lost a musical genius. I have fond memories of meeting Peter Steele. I have fond memories of being in several social situations with him, including asking him if it was okay to introduce to him a girl who was infatuated with him.

Tall and intimidating was his stage persona. I barely knew him, but I knew him as just one of the big family of musicians and friends from Brooklyn (which included Biohazard, Injustice, and Life of Agony). The guys in all of those bands were not rock stars, to us; they were our friends.

Peter, thank you for the memories, and thank you for the music.

How much money are 29 lives worth?

After watching with bated breath, we all found out that the status of those four miners changed from missing to confirmed dead. So, now it is time for the owners of that mine to answer many questions. The most important one that I would like to see asked is, "When they decided that it was more profitable for them to keep paying fines for violations, instead of remedying those violations, was the amount of money that they made enough to justify the 29 lives that were lost in the name of profit?"

In my America, the CEO, COO, Board of Directors, and any upper managers involved in the maintenance of that mine would be charged with 29 counts of 2nd degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and maybe enough a RICO charge, for operating an ongoing criminal enterprise. Upon conviction, all assets of the corporation would be seized and the corporation dissolved, without compensation to any shareholders, and here is what I would do with the money. First, the maximum fine would be imposed for every existing violation and paid; second, any and all wrongful death lawsuits would be paid out, and finally, whatever is left would go to fund the inspection of all operating mine (of any kind) in the United States.

That wouldn't bring back to life any or all of those 29 people who were offered up in sacrifice to the all mighty dollar, but it will certainly punish those that sacrificed them.

What doesn't Facebook get about privacy?

I have explicitly set my privacy settings to the most restrictive possible. Why am I getting friend requests from people who do not fit within the constraints that I set?

If Facebook makes one more "change" to their privacy policies that makes my profile visible to the entire Internet, I am canceling my account!

Why San Francisco Rocks and New York City Sucks!

If you read my last post, you know that I am now riding a bicycle, in NYC.

So why am I so pissed off? Good question. I'll tell you why. Buses! Buses? Yes, Buses. I have no idea what the personality or demeanor is of a San Francisco bus is, but I know two things. First, the personality and demeanor of NYC bus drivers suck harder than a pornstar, and the buses in San Francisco have bicycle racks.

I'll deal with the first one first. I have met and interacted with an MTA bus driver, outside of his professional capacity, but he is not a driver of a local route; he drives (or drove - I think he has since retired) an express route, from Staten Island to Manhattan. A few weeks before I met him, I noticed a sign on a train stating that assaulting an MTA work was punishable by a seven year prison sentence. When I did meet him, I asked two questions. First, why; and second (partially in response to his answer, but primarily as a function of a taxpaying customer of the MTA), without that law, would MTA employees actually be nice, customer-friendly, or (at the very least) willing to do the job they are being paid to do (by tax-payers). I will not go into how I have to spend the little bit of money that New York City is willing to piss upon me, as an employee (conservatives call it Reaganomics), so that I can then funnel it back into the cesspool known as the MTA (the Wal-mart strategy of paying your employees enough to shop at your store, but nowhere else).

His response was that MTA workers were being assaulted. I understand and agree that noone should be assault in the performance of their job. I'll deal with the police in a second. Times up. Look to that post I made about being pulled over. That cop (and all like him) deserves to be assaulted and anally raped by an elephant with syphilis. If you are doing your job, then you should be protected, but if you are the douchebag making the unintelligible announcements at the Flatbush Avenue stop of the 2/5 trains, you better pull your prison culture inspired pants about your ass, because you are who (in my world) the elephant is looking for. It is a microphone, not a megaphone. But back to the point, SF v. NYC.

I live in Brooklyn (Go Brooklyn!!), and my mother lives in Staten Island. Grammatically, she lives on Staten Island, but being a Staten Island resident imparts bigger problems than grammar (lord knows, grammar (along with common sense, logic, and human decency) is something that has never found its way onto that god-forsaken sandbar). Why is it that I have to go into Manhattan, with my bicycle, to get to Staten Island, from Brooklyn? There is a bridge. The people in San Francisco know which one it is. It is the one that held the record for being the longest suspension bridge (one inch longer than the Golden Gate Bridge). It is called the Veranzzano Narroaws Bridge.

Why can't I ride my bicycle to Bay Ridge (god help me), and get on a bus to cross the bridge and continue my trip? San Francisco buses have bicycle racks. Okay, San Francisco has earthquakes too, but San Francisco never had a mayor whose police commissioner was the most corrupt person in the city (that's right Guiliani, I'm talking about your buddy Bernard Keryk).

How do you get around NYC?

I hate driving in New York City. The drivers are morons, and the pedestrians are imbeciles! I can't stand taking the bus, because everyone wants to be Rosa Parks and not move to the back. What's worse is that they stand in the way of me trying to get to the back. The subways aren't too bad, thanks to 20+ years of smoking killing my sense of smell, but I have mixed feelings about those cameras (you know, the ones that DON"T WORK?!?!).

So, with the coming mild weather, I figured I'd try cycling around this city whenever possible. Do you know what I have found, from behind the handlebars? Drivers are morons, and pedestrians are imbeciles!

... and this is why we need the public option.

I went to the Eye Doctor yesterday, for a follow up visit. Apparently, the elevated pressure in my eyes and the enlarged optic nerves raised a red flag in December and have now triggered a concern that I may have glaucoma.

Gee, I'm glad I have a job. No, wait a minute. I have a really shitty job, working for the worst employer, (New York State) and I have no health insurance. Hey Patterson, instead of intimidating staffers victims and turning college graduation ceremonies into your own campaign rallys (like you did at mine), why done you pull your head out of your ass and do something about the state budget, or quit, so the lackey you appointed can try to do something.

F--k You, NYPD!

Here is a tale of my tax dollars at work.

Recently, I was driving in Staten Island (or as I like to call it, "That god-forsaken sandbar"). After I got off the West Shore Expressway, I turned onto Arden Avenue, which is an overpass, that has an obstructed view. As I made my turn, I noticed the police car, suspiciously sitting behind the trees that create the aforementioned obstruction, active its lights and make a U-turn. Being an experienced driver, I pulled to the right and slowed until I noticed that the police car was not passing me, but pulling me over. Me! I know!

Because of the trees, he couldn't use any speed detection technology as I approached the turn, and there was certainly no indication that I was speeding as I made the turn; so, WTF? As officer dipshit approached the vehicle, he said that I was being pulled over for having tinted windows. That's right, not the front of rear windshields, but the driver's and front passenger's windows. After explaining that it is illegal in all states to have those two windows tinted, he asked me if that law is enforced in South Carolina (the state that the vehicle is register in) and asked for my license and registration. As I handed my New York State drivers license to him, I said, "I don't know. I am not a South Carolina resident." After answering a question about who owned the vehicle, I drove off without any type of summons or citation.

So, Mr. "Term Limits Don't Apply to Me" Bloomberg and Mr. Kelly, I have a few questions for you. First, are tinted windows illegal in every state, or are they only illegal in New York City, when you have a South Carolina license plate (until you show a New York State drivers license)? Based on the fact that New York City had to pay $30,000 because the police don't even know the laws of their own city, how the hell can officer dipshit be an authority on laws in any other state? Finally, with all of the free time that the police seem to have (pulling me over on false premise, the subway wallet sting, the unconstitutional searches at the Staten Island ferry terminals, the $30,000 subway photography incident, shooting unarmed blacks an obscene amount of times), I guess you caught all the terrorists, right?

The way I see it is, if the police have this much free time, you can balance the city's budget by laying off some of these cops and giving up your limo and taking the subway to and from Gracie Manson and City Hall (just don't pick up any wallets).

CityTech Uses Spyware!

If you have used the wifi network at the New York City College of Technology over the last three years, then you are aware of the many “safeguards”. The speed is abysmal, you cannot download a .torrent file, and you could only log in on one laptop at a time. I have even had to complain about not being able to check my Gmail account with my preferred email client (Thunderbird), yet I could check my Hotmail account through Outlook Express. That was two years ago. Last year brought fewer access points, worse network connectivity and reliability, and slower speeds. And now, we have spyware!

Just because it is named for a tropical island in the Caribbean, doesn't mean that Aruba is good. Based on my initial impression, this new system seemed even more inconvenient than the old log in page, but further probing revealed that Aruba is spyware.

What is spyware? Spyware is a combination of the words spy and software. Spyware, as defined by Steve Gibson (the security researcher who coined the term), is software that infiltrates your computer, looking for information. The way you get infected with spyware is very easy; you can open a malicious email attachment, you can visit a malicious website, or you can allow CityTech's wifi network to run its Aruba software on your computer.

What exactly does Aruba do? Well, based on my observations and tests, Aruba scans through your computer to determine if you have the latest Windows updates, an updated anti-virus program, a specific version of the lsb package and who knows what else. What? IT SCANS YOUR COMPUTER! That sounds a lot like spyware to me. After scanning your computer, it will determine whether or not you are worthy of using the network, based on its findings. There are several reasons a computer may not meet Aruba's approval, a pirated copy of Windows, a conscious choice to not use an anti-virus program, or a Linux distribution that does not have/use/follow the Linux standard base (yes, they even have a bash script that searches your Linux system).

The obvious flaws and waste of money on the implementation of Aruba aside, I want to point out to the administration, the IT department, and to you students that while the wifi network belongs to CityTech, students' computers. I could argue that the wifi network was paid for and is being maintained by tax dollars and outrageous tuition and/or Technology fees, but that would only serve to distract from the real issue, which is that CityTech is attempting to (and to a certain extent succeeding in) tell adult owners of computers what software must be on their computers, in order to access a resource that they are paying for. Unless CityTech is giving computers away to its students (I'd like one), those computers belong to the people who paid for them; as such, what software they choose to run, how often they choose to update it, and which application they choose to check their email are decisions that are the right of the computer owners, not CityTech.

I know what the IT department's response will be. “We have to (have the right to) control/monitor our network.” Fine, but what right do you have to tell me what I can do with my computer and a college resource that I paid for? Does the Department of Transportation have the right to tell me what kind of gas to put in my car, before I can drive on a highway that I pay for? Well, I'm waiting. Maybe they can explain what grants them the right to search through my computer for anything? Again, the operative words are “my computer”!