Jul 11
On September 26th, I'll be volunteering to help Light The Night, a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This event is both to raise money for the cause, and to raise awareness as well. I'll also be participating in the evening walk, which is a tribute to all those battling blood cancers and to loved ones who have been lost.
![[Light The Night -- donate!]](http://etools.lightthenight.org/mission360assets/default/fundraising/docs/LTN_Web_2C_lores.jpg)
I invite you to make a donation to Light The Night. The average participant raises around $200 -- I want to do way better than that, and raise at least $1,000. Will you help me meet my goal by donating?
Cancer leaves no family completely untouched -- members of my own family have fallen victim to it, as have others I know. I don't think I have a single friend who hasn't lost someone to cancer, or nearly lost them.
Big or small, every donation makes an impact. Here's an idea of what your donation can do:
- A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.
- A donation of $50 makes possible a Family Support group with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.
- A donation of $100 helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.
- A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.
If you can help me reach $1,000 (or more!), imagine the great things that money can accomplish for others who desperately need assistance.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I hope you will join me in supporting this very worthy cause by donating today.
Jul 7
From a "conversation" with an old skool guy on an IRC network I frequent. I mentioned Mao's "Little Red Book" ...
20:23:38 <%Pie> what is that, like his journal? "Dear diary, I hope people in the future don't make 'Chairman Meow' jokes. That would get old really fast, I imagine. Current mood: Communisty"
Jul 6
"In some states, like Massachusetts, public health doctors have persuaded legislators to pass pandemic influenza legislation that will allow state officials to enter homes and businesses without the consent of occupants, to investigate and quarantine individuals without their consent, to require licensed healthcare providers to give citizens vaccines, and to ban free assembly of citizens of the state." (emphasis mine)
- Beverly Loe Fisher, National Vaccine Information Center
These states, and presumably the federal government as well, are quietly passing laws to allow themselves to enter your home without your consent, to quarantine you, and to force doctors to give you vaccines whether you want them or not! And of course, free assembly has to be outlawed during those "epidemics" -- surely that's just to prevent the spread of the (bullshit) flu in question, right? The government wouldn't restrict your free speech so it can jab an unnecessary needle in your arm, simultaneously pumping god-knows-what into your body and pumping god-knows-how-much money into pharmaceutical companies... Right?
(Warning: unusually strong language ahead, which I would not normally use on my blog.)
What. The. Fuck. How can people tolerate this crap? I'm sorry, but if you come knocking on my door and tell me I must allow you to stick some needle in my arm, you can go get fucked. And if you tell me I can't take part in some protest against a heavy-handed attempt to drug me, you can get bent. I'll do it anyway. Forcing medicine into people, whether it's for their own good or not, is total bullshit and should not be tolerated. It especially should not be tolerated by a (formerly?) great people like Americans.
Jul 3
Happy Independence Day, America! Never forget where we come from, nor the foundation that our country is built on. Don't trade your freedom, independence, and God-given rights for fuzzy false feelings of security from the Nanny State. Let freedom ring!
Jul 2
Ah! Flashback! I just dug up this picture I took years ago, from Gran Turismo 4 on my PS2. This is a shot of my favorite car of all time, the Pagani Zonda C12. With a price tag of over $300,000 plus all the upgrades I stuffed it with, this car cost me a big chunk of (virtual) cash. The Zonda is pretty much unstoppable with the right engine tweaking and super sticky racing tires -- once I had it upgraded all the way, nobody could touch me on the racetrack. Ahhhh, those were the days!
Jul 2
In recent years, I've gradually come to despise Microsoft less and less. Windows 7 has shaped up to be very promising, Office 2007 has impressed me greatly with its kick-ass interface, and Internet Explorer 8 has brought about some refreshing new features (although it's still dog slow). Some, but not all, of my past respect for Microsoft has been rebuilt. I've felt pretty neutral about the company and their products on the whole.
- This add-on decreases the security of Firefox by adding .NET functionality for "easily and silently" (Microsoft's own phrasing, emphasis mine) installing applications. You know who likes to "silently" install applications on your machine? Spyware developers, advertising companies, virus pranksters, and l33t hax0r d00dz.
- The add-on is installed without user consent. Windows Update does not tell you that it will include this add-on, much less give you the possibility to opt out of uninstalling it.
- Firefox is not made by Microsoft! Who the hell is Microsoft to be installing add-ons for (or otherwise modifying) applications on my system, without so much as a warning or a prompt asking for consent?
- The add-on cannot easily be uninstalled. In Firefox, you can generally uninstall any add-ons you want with one click of a button. But Microsoft installs this add-on system-wide in such a way that the uninstall button is disabled. Yes, you can turn the add-on off, but you cannot completely remove it without going to the Microsoft Knowledge Base and finding a convoluted, incredibly nerdy fix. This is like a doctor coming to your house and putting your (healthy) leg in a cast, then telling you you cannot remove the cast unless you go to the library and find a book that tells you how to remove it. W. T. F.
- This is quite possibly anti-competitive behavior. By silently infiltrating a competing product so that it supports and, in fact, eases the penetration of a Microsoft technology, it's not too much of a stretch to say that this is behavior with significant consequences for Microsoft's competitors (such as Flash, Adobe AIR, Java, etc.).
- All of this behavior is the same thing that viruses, spyware, and adware do. Why is it acceptable for Microsoft to do it? Oh, that's right. It isn't acceptable.
Way to go, Microsoft. Some of the good will you built up amongst the IT community and amongst geeks like me, who are the outspoken people that influence family/small business decisions on technology -- you blew it. You just put yourself squarely in the company of spyware and trojan horse developers.
This is why I use Linux, folks. Sheesh.
