If all you see in this journal is random ranting about the state of the world and random quizzes gaffled from random journals/forums/communities/etc. in here, it's because I don't know you well enough to let you in on more personal aspects of my life.

If you do know me - either from one of the communities I requent or from meeting me offline - send me a message.

Apparently  Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Washington, D.C. all consider domestic violence a "pre-existing condition", thus making it OK for insurance companies to deny you coverage.

Fucking assholes.

I'm sorry, this is just...ugh. There are no words for it.

The idiocy is beyond logic - well, except that used by the insurance companies to deny coverage based on incidents of DV - beyond facepalming (or facepawing, as the case may be) . . . it may even beyond the dreaded FACESMASH.

WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS MY DISGUST.

I think I'll just go nuke that GDI base over there . . . maybe seeing it turned into a smoldering pile of radioactive rubble will make me feel better.

I know it's been a while since I last updated, but life's been hectic - and I haven't really had much to say. I mean, does anyone really care whether or not I change the tires on my car/fix an old GE fan/guess the password for the Pentagon intranet in five tries? (Side note for any TLAs watching this blog: that last was a Dilbert reference. Stop being so damn serious, you dopey fucks, and get a sense of humor.)

Matter of fact . . . if it weren't for this crap going on in Iran, with a possibly-stolen election, I probably still wouldn't have anything worth noting aside from general "life, the universe, and everything" stuff.

But in amongst the various tweets and such - some reporting what's going on in Iran, others offering well-meant but useless comforting messages, and some of which look to be disinformation - I found this valuable resource:

The #iranelection Cyberwar Guide for Beginners


UPDATE (6/15/2009, 12:00:00 EDT): The site this guide was originally posted (linked above) on has been mysteriously "suspended", but there are other sites hosting it now too - you can find it by searching for the following string on Google:

inurl:"iranelection-cyberwar"

UPDATE 2 (6/28/2009, 06:00:00 EDT): The original host for this guide is back online. However, this guide will remain in case the original host goes down again.

( Or you can just read it here, under the cut. )

If you're looking to lend a hand, this is a good place to start.

The mass media would have you believe that this steaming bucket of elk shit is the gtreatest threat to your child's welfare since the invention of the Sharp Chunk of Rock (TM).

State prosecutors across America are charging teenagers with crimes of a type that would force them to register as sex offenders because of this gargantuan pile of steamy-fresh flies-buzzing-around-it bullcrap.

You may be thinking "My god, this must be serious! What is this great threat that I must protect my child from? Is it high school rape gangs? Are there groups of people out there seeking to drag my kid off to a dark warehouse to harvest his organs for the black market? Is there a massive bioterror conspiracy to infect all of our schools with swine flu? WHAT IS THIS THREAT, AND HOW DO I PROTECT MY KID FROM IT?!"

I hate to break it to you guys, but it's nothing so dramatic. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, it's a genuine, one hundred per cent pure ton of fresh feces.

It's something called 'sexting'.

Now, before you get all hyperactive and hyper-vigilant, sexting is NOT the practice of type-fucking back and forth on cell phones. In fact, there's no sex involved (at least, not in the sense of 'sexual intercourse').

What sexting is is fairly simple, as demonstrated by the following example

Let's say 16-year-old Katie Smith from Podunk, Ohio buys herself some newundergarments - for the sake of this example, we'll go with a lacy bra and a satin thong (nothing too revealing, but something that people would definitely consider sexy).

She gets home with her purchases, tries them on . . . and uses here Panashiba Z-1000 camera phone to take a few pictures of herself.

Now, let's say that she decides to send a few copies of these naughty pictures to her friends Jo Noble, Martha Frye, Jimmy Reynolds, and Marcus Tam.

That's what sexting is - taking provocative pictures of yourself and sending them to your friends. Poor judgement? Definitely.

But "the greatest threat to our children's welfare since the invention of the Sharp Chunk of Rock(TM)?" HARDLY.

The only real threat I can see here is the threat of the Overzealous Legal System.

Let's go back to the example above, shall we? Only, let's take it a little further:

Let's say Marcus Tam is one of those no-goodniks whose idea of a fun night out is knocking over the local gas station and swiping a few cases of beer with his buddies.

Let's also say that Marcus and his buddies get caught one night. They're hauled off to the county clink, and everything they had on them is confiscated by the cops as evidence (or potential sources thereof).

Now remember, Marcus was one of those four people who got the pictures that Katie Smith sent out, and they're on his phone.

Now, also keep in mind that both Marcus and Katie, being hich-school students, are likely under the 'age of consent' for sex-related activites.

So along comes a cop who's seen this picture of Katie in her undies to tell Marcus that, since he has a picture of sixteen-year-old Katie in her undies, they're going to be adding another charge to the list - he's now being charged with posession of child pornography.

"And that's not all," the cop tells him. "We'll be picking up your buddies Katie, Jo, Martha, and Jimmy as well - Katie for production and distribution of child pornograpy and Jo, Martha and Jimmy for posession, 'cause we found out that Katie took the snaps and sent 'em to you, Jimmy, Jo, and Martha."

"But wait!" Marcus says. "Katie took those pics herself and sent 'em to us of her own free will!"

"Doesn't matter," says the cop. "She's sixteen - under the age of consent. That makes it child porn. You're all going to have to register as sex offenders if you're convicted. Nothing I can do about it, that's just how the law is."

And that, right there, is the REAL problem with sexting.

It's not teens showing extraordianrily bad judgement in taking provocative pictures of themselves and sending them to their friends. That's not the problem.

The proiblem is these certain assholes in the legal system who are treating it the same as if they were fathers who raped their daughters or 30-year-old men fucking 10-year-old girls and then selling videos of it - AND FUCKING RUINING THESE KIDS' LIVES OVER IT.

So, to the mass media: SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT SEXTING. YES, IT'S STUPID, BUT IT'S NOT THE FUCKING PROBLEM HERE. GET YOUR FUCKING FACTS RIGHT.

And to the prosecutors involved in sexting cases: If you SERIOUSLY plan on ruining high-schooler students' lives by forcing them to register as sex offenders simply for giving provocative pics of themselves to their firends, YOU NEED TO HAVE THE DUST SMACKED OFF YOUR STUPID BRAIN. (Oh, and you need to be disbarred post-haste, too - for criminal stupidity, if nothing else.)

I'm sure that, by now, everyone's familiar with the outcome of the Pirate Bay trial, wherein the founders of the tracker were found guilty of distributing copyrighted works (never mind the fact that all they did was operate a server that kept an eye on BitTorrent traffic, and no actual copyrighted material ever touched their servers).

But what you may not know is that the entertainment industry screwed the pooch with this case.

Why do I say that?

Because the judge presiding over the case is a member of several pro-copyright groups - and so may have been influenced by the entertainment industry into rendering a guilty verdict.

(Article text under the cut, for those who don't want to click the link.)

( Read more... )


Now, I will concede that there may not have been any bias or impropriety in the judge's decision, but given the fact that he's a member of several pro-copyright groups makes the verdict look suspect.

The smart thing for him to have done would have been to recuse himself from the case due to a potential conflict of interest, and appoint someone who has no ties to any groups involved in copyright issues (whether they be ones that are for the extension of copyright laws or the reformation thereof).

But he didn't, so now the defense can move to have a mistrial declared on grounds of bias.

So here I am, back at my motel room and finally getting on the Internet. It's after one in the morning - I just got finished watching Patriot Games (a damn good film, based on the Tom Clancy book of the same name) - and I've been musing on I-Con during the movie.

So far, I-Con has been fun. Lots of stuff to see and do (some of which I had to skip because there was other stuff I wanted - or had - to do, but such is convention life), doing the usual volunteer work for free admission . . . and finding out that they've decided to do away with the usual T-shirts and go with badges instead - specifically, the swivelly neck-strap badges that some congoers creeb about constantly (said complaints being fairly well parodied by a certain mythological beastie who goes off on hilariious - if profanity-laden - tirades). I was cool with them, though - it meant that any time I went outside, I could zip up my jacket and not have to unzip it every time someone asked for my badge - not to mention I could doodle on the blank back of the badge (which I did).

Yeah, there have been downsides - it was windy today, not to mention I've had to learn a whole new setup because of the new location, but they've been few and far between, with good stuff filling the rest of the time.

A few random highlights:

-Getting into a discussion of RTS games because someone recognized the motto and sigil on the pin I was wearing (namely, the sigil and one of the battle cries of the Brotherhood of Nod - "In The Name of Kane!")

-Pondering the possibility of doing a Command & Conquer-related skit next year with someone else who was kitted out as an Executive Outcomes operative  a la S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (said person also recognizing the aforementioned sigil and catchphrase).

-Going to a panel on "The Seven Words You Can Never Say While Gaming" (and yes, it was inspired by the similarly-named George Carlin routine).

-And spotting what is quite possibly the most unique costume I've ever seen . . . someone kitted out as Duke Nukem (the Duke Nukem 3D version, that is). I wonder how many people recognized him . . .

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. I've got to get some kind of rest before the daylight comes tomorrow, otherwise I'll be falling asleep all over the place.

Good night, all.

1) Fix up my house.
2) Buy a Falcon Northwest Fragbook.
3) Get myself a set of Razer gaming gear (Lycosa keyboard, Lachesis mouse, Barracuda headset, and maybe one of their mousepads too)
4) Get my hands on a 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S and a black Range Rover.
5) Get the Range Rover decked out like the one Torchwood uses as a mobile hub.


That's thge first one. Now for the second.







 . . . yeah, I was bored. >.>

To quote Douglas Adams: "Life, the universe, and everything."

Okay, well, maybe not everythiong . . . and only a fraction of the universe, but life. Definitely life.

I'll not bore you with gory details, though. Suffice to say, I've had a lot on my plate recently, and I'm really, REALLY looking forward to I-Con this year - it'll give me some much-needed time to unwind.

Remember, kiddies: IF YOU DON'T LIKE DRM, SAY SO - WITH YOUR WALLET!

. . . you subconsciously start looking for fails.

. . . you ACTIVELY start looking for fails.

. . . whenever you find a fail, your mind automatically starts superimposing the word "FAIL!" over any fails you find.

(And I'm that bored that I'm doing this right now.)

Take a picture of yourself right now.
Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instructions with your picture.



So now you know what I look like at three in the morning -.-

(And since LJ doesn't like putting links to other peoples' journals in entry titles - at least not for me - I got this sucker from [obligatory link] avagdu  [/obligatory link] )

. . . they sue one of the only lawyers to successfully defend someone against a RIAA lawsuit.

I'm talking, of course, of Ray Beckerman, copyright lawyer and the brains behind "Recording Industry vs. The People", a blog dedicated to keeping an eye on the various lawsuits that RIAA members have filed and how those cases progress when they finally hit the courts.

And now the RIAA is trying to shut Mr. Beckerman up.

Well, I have one word for the RIAA: "NUTS!"

. . . Wait, they probably wouldn't get the historical reference. So let me expand that:

"Hey, RIAA! YOU'VE ALREADY LOST. GIVE UP AND GO HOME. NOBODY LIKES YOU, EVERYONE HATES YOU, AND THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO DROP DAISY-CUTTERS ON YOUR STUPID ASSES!"

Yes, yes I know it's old. But it's funny anyway.

I bring you "Jayne Cobb Before Firefly!"

Teens dealt charges over Joker cards

Two Pembroke teenagers have been charged in connection with a series of playing cards that were defaced with threatening writing and left at stores in Christiansburg and Pearisburg -- a gesture police said the teens admitted had been inspired by this summer's Batman movie, "The Dark Knight."

Justin Colby Dirico and Bryan Eugene Stafford, both 18, admitted to leaving cards that bore handwritten messages inside the Pearisburg Wal-Mart, according to police Chief J.C. Martin.

Martin would not say how they identified the suspects but said the teens admitted Tuesday during police interviews they were responsible for the cards, which they patterned after elements of "The Dark Knight." Both were charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.

(Emphasis mine - Mac)

Okay. Disorderly conduct, yeah, I could see that. Maybe disturbing the peace or criminal mischief at the outside.

But conspiracy to commit terrorism? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

That has got to be THE stupidest charge to slap these kids with (short of accusing them of being the 9/11 masterminds, that is). It was a god-DAMN prank that went a little too far. Nothing more, nothing less.

There's no plot to blow up a building with a truck bomb or charge into a mall with a fucking bomb vest here! Just some kids who scribbled on playing cards and left them around town as a fucking GAG!

This, my friends, is why I am rapidly losing faith in humanity.

Anyone for a moonbase?

 

From one of the IRC channels I frequent:

[Deeeno] i've seen hentai more believable than scientology

XD