Category — Current Events

Just when you thought it was OK to like the French again, they go and screw it up with this crap.

If passed into law, the legislation would deal very harshly with any form of file sharing, be it video or audio. Alleged offenders will first receive an e-mailed warning, followed by a registered letter, and lastly with a 3-12 month suspension of internet service. The law will also prevent users from switching ISP’s to avoid punishment, and even public hotspots will contain filters. Additionally, home users will be required to lock down home networks, and will be legally responsible for its security.

In return the French will start receiving DVD’s in a more timely fashion, and music DRM will be drastically scaled back.

Now, I haven’t downloaded copywrited stuff in quite some time – not since I had a DVR installed, found Hulu and got a Live account with my new XBOX.  But, in the past, I did a fair amount of downloading of “catch up” episodes for TV shows that I missed – something that I still consider a “gray” area of use.  Of course, by the book, it isn’t “gray” at all – its illegal.  In fact, I’m actually glad I don’t have to do it anymore.  Truthfully, for a show that I really enjoy, I’d much rather pay $2 an episode than wait 3 days for a crappy quality download only to find out that it is dubbed in German.

Still, this bill scares the crap out of me.  I can’t believe people would be willing to give up their freedom for early access to entertainment.  Still, in socialist France, maybe the people actually aren’t, but the politicians are… One of the few things that I like about Obama is how tech savvy he seems to be.  You almost have to have personally bought content and been frustrated with trying to actually use it where you want to really understand this stuff.  Out of Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin, I would have definitely picked the O-Man as the one most likely to have done so.  Still, given his politics, I’m not sure that this will help us any.

One day, people will have the ability to have their own networks and crap like this won’t happen.  You already see it in big companies – very large WAN infrastructure that never actually touches the internet.  Some day that will spread to people, and you’ll have co-op networks that are completely private.  Its the only answer to crap like this and only technology keeps it from happening today.  I’ve personally knows folks who all live in the same apartment building that have wired their apartments together – not for the purpose of circumventing copyright law, but simply for the ability to share information and infrastructure more easily.  Why have four home servers when one shared one does the job for 1/4 the price?

Of course, in the current State-of-the-Tech-Union, you could only do that with people you implicitly trust.  One day technology will make that unnecessary – just as our current internet security technologies make it relatively safe to surf the net.  I think even the telecom companies would like that, as it removes them from having any liability whatsoever.  You’d still pay a monthly fee for your “line” – but it would likely be a simple direct link to the next person up the line, or something similar.  You may have private line aggregators that take a monthly fee from a number of people to allow for more bandwidth, etc.   Don’t get me wrong – this would likely be in addition to an Internet connection, but I think there is a pretty good chance of it happening at some point in the future.  It would take a ton of cash, a lot of technology and a critical mass of people, but its is indeed possible.  I’d call it a Private Public Network or PPN.

For those of you saying “impossible” – just remember that one dude, Linus Torvalds, started the unstoppable wave that became Linux.  Its amazing what can happen when fed-up people buck the status quo and go off and do something on their own.  Linus didn’t try to start a revolution, but his idea was so good that it happened anyway.  It may take years or even a decade or two (work on what became the Linux began in 1991), but it CAN happen.

Mark my words.

Yay!  The State budget has been approved!

Disclaimer.  I’m going to swear a few times in this article, so if you don’t want to hear that, ya’ll can SHOO.

Go read this article at the LA Times. Yes, I’m serious.

Ok.  Did you notice how now that we have the budget passed, everyone is talking about how we can stop this from happening again?  There are a lot of ideas out there:  Maybe we can dock lawmaker’s pay, maybe we can change it so that only 55% of lawmakers have to approve a budget, maybe we can lower the amount of votes required for new taxes, etc. just to name a few.

But, what’s the ONE thing they AREN’T talking about doing?

[Read more →]

Check out this news about Limp Bizkit!

To be honest, I didn’t follow their music much previously, but I had the pleasure of meeting Fred a few months ago and he’s a really nice guy.  Very down to earth.  You can chat with some of the guys directly on their website, and follow their progress on several Twitter feeds as well.  I’m excited they are back together and am looking forward to seeing their new work…

The original line-up of Limp Bizkit is back, do you believe in miracles? If so, then you can believe Limp Bizkit is back to do it ALL again! Album! Tour! Worldwide!

(New York, NY) February 12, 2009 – The original line-up of Fred Durst, Wes Borland, Sam Rivers, John Otto, and DJ Lethal are back from an eight year hiatus to bring their world back to ours. Fred Durst and Wes Borland said in a joint statement:

“We decided we were more disgusted and bored with the state of heavy popular music than we were with each other. Regardless of where our separate paths have taken us, we recognize there is a powerful and unique energy with this particular group of people we have not found anywhere else. This is why Limp Bizkit is back.”

The guys will kick off a world tour in the Spring on the overseas festival circuit with headline shows sprinkled in throughout Eastern Europe and Europe, selected dates include, in late May, Russia, Ukraine, and the Baltic countries where Limp Bizkit has never played before despite huge demand, along with major festivals like Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park in Germany, more dates to be announced shortly. A new album, which would be the original group’s first full-length effort since 2000, is also planned. Limp Bizkit’s first three albums have sold over 20 million copies in the U.S. alone, and another 13 million in the rest of the world.

And, it could have close to a Billion in Gold! Dang, I really did choose the wrong career…

To alleviate any confusion, this is NOT the HMS Victory upon which Admiral Nelson was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar.

To get information on this ship, check: HMS Victory.

For Admiral Nelson’s ship: HMS Victory.

Your Second Amendment Rights: Under Fire?

While Lou Dobbs is not your average CNN Libtard, when the network allows a story like this to run, its time to take notice.

Day 3 of his Presidency and Mr. Change is already playing party lines.

As his prior predicessors did, President Obama has now meddled with the policy on US Government funding being given to groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad.

Reagan pioneered the restriction on funds in 1984.  Clinton rescinded the rule in January of 1993 and Bush reinstated it January of 2001.  This is like party-based policy ping-pong.

While it follows party lines, I’m particularly amazed that Obama would do something so quickly that will actually HURT our economy.  There is a dire need for more dollars to be spent here in America rather than abroad.  The LAST thing we should be doing in a time of economic downturn is send more dollars overseas – especially for something as divisive as abortion services.  Our recession won’t be fixed by taking money from everyone’s pocket and sending it overseas.  And, if the pockets are already picked clean, do we really care about this so much that we are willing to go into debt for it?  Apparently Mr. Obama does.  To me, that’s messed up.  Lets saddle OUR children with debt far into the future so that other people can kill their children!

Now, I’m sure some yahoo out there is going to bring up the war in Iraq as the ultimate “sending dollars overseas” example and blame it on the last administration.  While I could debate back and forth the percentages of dollars spent on the war that come back to the US, I’ll shortcut the process and just say “Well, thank you Captain Obvious.”   Remember Obama’s campaign though?  CHANGE.  Change from partisanship, change from politics, etc.

Apparently, he didn’t mean now.

Honestly though, while I can’t really fault Obama for acting in line with his party (I mean, did you really think he was going to be any different!??), I’m quite appalled at how each President has made this an issue their very first month in office.   That’s sad.

Some people (including Biden) have said that Obama would reunite a divided America – I don’t think he is going to get far in that hope acting like this.

But, does anyone else remember that Hamas is the one that declared the cease-fire over?

If I hear anything more about “pressure mounting on Israel to halt the offensive,” I’m really going to scream!  How long would you tolerate non-action from our President if Mexico started randomly bombing San Diego, El Paso or Tuscon?

Hamas is like that short annoying guy in High School who talked smack all day long and then acted surprised when someone twice his size kicked his loud-mouth ass.

I mostly feel sorry for the poor civilians in Gaza.   BUT, on the other hand, that’s kinda what you get when you vote for assholes who fire mortars from your child’s preschool.

Its true that many of them are squeezed on both sides and you can’t put it beyond Hamas to bully people into supporting them. I suppose its sort of akin to Democrats and Republicans each having their own set of armed thugs and there being very little to stop them from getting up close and personal with you on the way to the polling station.  Amazing.

Iranians Hate Obama ... Already.

What’s equally amazing is that the World loved us for approximately a month and a half before everything started being Obama’s fault.  The poor guy isn’t even in office yet, and already things are his fault.

There really is no pleasing these bastards. But, damn, that was fast…

And, expected.