Recent Posts

5901

Living Room / Censorship in Schools (dancing birthday dinosaur!)

« Last post by Renegade on March 29, 2012, 02:42 AM »

Well, it's not Internet censorship, but it's still censorship, and you're not going to believe it...

Words are censored. Damaging, evil words that can seriously hurt children... Words like:

• dinosaur
• birthdays
• wealth
• poverty
• Halloween
• dancing
• terrorism
• divorce
• references to disease
• slavery
• creatures from outer space

Oh god, please shoot me now! Birthdays? Dinosaur? Seriously? WTF?

http://endthelie.com...s-topics-from-tests/

If anyone needed a single case to point to in order to show that political correctness has gone completely insane here in the United States, this is it. With the rise of such practices, we also see the growth of the “nanny state” which seeks to control every aspect of our lives.

The New York City Department of Education has banned several words in an attempt to be as politically correct as possible, although I see it as pure imbecilic nonsense.

There are some 50 words which are officially banned from being used on tests given to students by the city, the banning of which is outright absurd.

Some of the more insane choices are: dinosaur, birthdays, wealth, poverty, Halloween, dancing, terrorism, divorce, references to disease, slavery, creatures from outer space, and many more.

In fact, it is not just these words that are banned, but indeed the entire topic cannot be included on any tests administered by the city.

Just when you think you've heard it all, it gets worse.

Dancing birthday dinosaur! Goodbye Barney! Well... That might be a good thing... But still... Censoring Barney is still censorship!

But I do have to admit, this is just so utterly, completely, totally insane that I can't but laugh.


Now, I don't think that kids should be taught about terrorism, but c'mon... that's just common sense. You don't read Edgar Allen Poe or H. P. Lovecraft to kids either. There is such a thing as not being a complete moron. Like what 7 year old kid wouldn't be traumatized by watching "House of 1000 Corpses"? Heck, most adults are traumatized by anything Rob Zombie produces!

But, like how many people here dreamed about creatures from outer space when they were kids? Who didn't love UFOs or aliens or rocket ships or far away planets? You're likely in the minority if you didn't. Or maybe a girl - not too sure, but I didn't know too many girls that were into space aliens when I was a kid.


You just can't make this stuff up... And it never seems to stop...

5902

Living Room / Re: What's Your Internet Speed/Reliability SATISFACTION?

« Last post by Renegade on March 29, 2012, 12:15 AM »

Been a while, but might as well keep it all in the same thread...

I'm on a shared connection over Wi-Fi at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh:



Wish I got that at home...

5903

General Software Discussion / Re: best WYSIWYG html editor

« Last post by Renegade on March 29, 2012, 12:03 AM »

which would consider the best WYSIWYG html editor?

-kalos (March 25, 2012, 06:08 AM)

The best WYSIWYG editor is an editor without WYSIWYG.

-Tuxman (March 27, 2012, 04:21 PM)

Hahahah~!

And +1~!

I like to code in a text editor, then preview in a browser. Most of the time that's faster & easier than using a WSYIWIG editor.

Mind you, I also get lazy and create tables or some structures in a WSYIWIG editor (Dreamweaver) then clean it up in a text editor before putting it into my own code. Just faster & easier that way.

5904

Living Room / A Patent Denied? What is this world coming to? Sanity?

« Last post by Renegade on March 28, 2012, 11:32 PM »

You're not going to believe this... A patent was denied! The judge was apparently sober!

http://www.naturalne...e_Supreme_Court.html

"Laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable," said the decision by Justice Stephen Breyer, who overturned a previous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in favor of Prometheus' two patents. "[A]n application of a law of nature ... must do more than simply state the law of nature while adding the words 'apply it' ... [t]he claims are consequently invalid."

Is sanity making a comeback? Have the courts stopped smoking crack? Is this a sign of the end-times? Is the fabric of reality peeling away?

This is very good news. The implications for software patents should be obvious. Those "software patents" that are nothing more than throwing labels on basic mathematics are now on shaky ground.

Let's hope that the trend persists, and we hear more about these kinds of things!


BTW - Don't you love the judge's wording there? "...simply state the law of nature while adding the words 'apply it'..." Love that!

5905

Living Room / Re: 800 lb Paper Airplane?

« Last post by Renegade on March 28, 2012, 11:26 PM »

you guys are too clever, I fold

-Target (March 28, 2012, 06:07 PM)

Don't be scared off! These guys are just paper tigers!

5906

Living Room / Re: Microsoft is Censoring MSN Messenger Chats

« Last post by Renegade on March 28, 2012, 08:33 PM »

If this is the case, then Microsoft may well be justified in adding TPB to their block list.

-app103 (March 28, 2012, 08:00 PM)

Hmmm... I can understand trying to protect people, but this is still over the top. Banning an entire TLD is simply idiotic. Banning a site is still censorship, no matter how you try to justify it.

The fact is that the Pirate Bay has zero malware on it. None. Nadda. Zip. Zilch. With other torrent tracker sites untouched, this stinks of being entirely politically motivated. I don't buy for a second that this is any kind of altruism on the part of MS - you'd need to be seriously high to believe that.

The answer to malware isn't censorship.

If you'll excuse the metaphor, the Internet has "dark alleys", and perhaps the Pirate Bay is one of those dark alleys, but the answer isn't to stop people from going where they want to -- if you're worried about dark alleys, just don't go down them. It's pretty simple.

5907

Living Room / Re: Microsoft is Censoring MSN Messenger Chats

« Last post by Renegade on March 28, 2012, 04:59 AM »

Fortunately, I never really have anything I wish to "hide", being pretty open about what I am doing.

-IainB (March 28, 2012, 12:05 AM)

I take it you're not going to destroy America or dig up Marilyn Monroe?

5908

Living Room / Microsoft is Censoring MSN Messenger Chats

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 10:45 PM »

Well, looks like it's official policy to introduce malware-like behavior into your software:

http://endthelie.com...-of-fighting-piracy/

Piracy seems to be the favorite excuse nowadays when it comes to censorship, destroying internet freedom, and even absurdly large domestic digital surveillance operations.

Now Microsoft, one of the world’s largest corporations in the technology sector, has been actively monitoring and censoring conversations on their Windows Live Messenger program.

Even more disturbing, Microsoft now admits that they have been censoring conversations between users on Windows Live Messenger for quite a while now.

More at the link there. It gets worse.

5909

General Software Discussion / Some Diagramming Apps for Android

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 10:25 AM »

Well, I find myself looking for a diagramming app for Android on my tablet, download a few, and find 2 decent ones.

Dianoid Lite - Decent app, though not my first choice.
DroidDia - An alpha preview, but still free and for what I like, much better than Dianoid.

DroidDia has a nice, easy UI with lots of good options. It's not Visio, but it's darn good.

Just a tiny little note for anyone that's looking.

5910

Living Room / Re: Kazakhstan's glorious anthem mishap

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 10:02 AM »

Y'know, it kind of makes a good case for countries to have a "CI" page on a web site - Country Image instead of Corporate Image.

-Renegade (March 26, 2012, 09:43 PM)

Kazakhstan should. Similar blunder happened earlier this month.

-PhilB66 (March 27, 2012, 09:21 AM)

Bwahahahahah~!

Ricky Martin. Not from Kazakhstan Source: news.com.au

Oh god... They just can't win. What did they do wrong, or who did they piss off?

On the trivia side, that album was the first one mixed completely digitally. Producer: Charles Dye.

5911

Living Room / Re: Old Hard Drives

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 03:21 AM »

Put them all in a case and format then as ZFS and some kind of nas box and you will get a self healing, deduplicating, data integrity nas box.

-justice (March 27, 2012, 03:14 AM)

Holy! That ZFS is pretty damn sexy stuff!

5912

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 03:17 AM »

It kind of makes you wonder if doctors and the health industry in general really know any better today than they did back then. I'm guessing in another ~75 years people will look back on health recommendations of today with the same kind of bewildered amusement.

-Deozaan (March 27, 2012, 02:55 AM)

I read quite a few different health sites, and the stuff out there right now would blow your mind. I can't really post any of it here, because it's just so far off topic, but man... Once you ditch the mainstream media, the information out there is simply astounding.

So, if things go the way they are now, well... Anyways... You can get information right now that will make you look at the conventional picture of health and shake your head in bewildered amusement/amazement/disgust.

5913

Developer's Corner / Re: PL101: Create your own programming language in Javascript

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 03:12 AM »

Sounds like fun. But someone already made LOLCODE, so, kind of been done already for me.

Then again... <devilish grin creeps across lips />

5914

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 02:11 AM »

This is so utterly insane that it's funny:

http://naturalsociet...rate-advertisements/

Smoke to lose weight:



There are more at the link:

• In Order to Lose Weight, You Need to Eat More Sugar
• Forget Vegetables, Eat Psychoactive Drugs
• Feed Your Baby Lots of Soda

You can't make this stuff up!

5915

Living Room / Re: Post Your Funny Videos Here [NSFW]

« Last post by Renegade on March 27, 2012, 12:12 AM »

I got a laugh out of this:

(Warning - politically charged, but still very funny.)

5916

Living Room / 800 lb Paper Airplane?

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 11:47 PM »

The 800 lb gorilla of paper airplanes is... 800 lbs.

http://www.theregist.../03/26/desert_eagle/

An Arizona aircraft museum reckons it has taken the record for the launch of the biggest ever paper plane: a 45ft (13.7m) long monster which glided to Earth last week from a height of 2,703ft (824m).

Pima Air & Space Museum's hefty 800lb (363kg) Arturo's Desert Eagle needed a helicopter to haul its 24ft (7.3m) wingspan off the ground, but video of the release indicates it really did fly at up to 98mph (158km/h), even if footage of what we imagine was a lively landing isn't yet available.

http://greatpaperairplane.org/

It’s not every day that a giant paper airplane is released high over the Arizona desert. In fact, it’s never been done. But that’s exactly what the Pima Air & Space Museum did on March 21, 2012. The video to the right is our first glimpse into the dramatic, historic flight. More videos to come as we gather footage.

A couple months ago, hundreds of kids came to the museum to show us what paper airplane flying was all about. And now, inspired by their enthusiasm, we built a 45-foot paper airplane (quite possibly the largest ever constructed) and flew it.

Boys and their toys!

5917

Living Room / Re: #killswitch - it's George Orwell .AND. Aldous Huxley (not .OR.)

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 11:34 PM »

No government can maintain power without the tacit consent of the people, at a minimum. Once people speak up, they lose. Because they have to follow the people.

-Renegade (March 26, 2012, 06:03 AM)

I'm not sure that history would necessarily always be able to support that statement.

-IainB (March 26, 2012, 09:50 PM)

Imagine 1,000 plantation owners trying to keep control of 100,000 slaves that have all decided that they're not gonna take it anymore!

Sure, there will be casualties, but at 100:1, I know where I'd place my bets.

Still, the time for insurrection isn't when you arrive at the camps - it's before when you find out that you're being loaded up and "relocated".

The US got its ass handed to it in Viet Nam by a bunch of farmers with AK-47s.

It got its ass handed to it again by a bunch of farmers and goat herders making IEDs in Afghanistan.

It also got its ass handed to it yet again by the same crowd in Iraq.

All the while in each of those situations, there were collaborators. And they still lost.

There's a pattern here. When you have a population that simply won't put up with tyranny, the tyrants lose. Sure, there are casualties. Heavy casualties. But in the end, the people win.

The base of all power comes from the people. Without them, there is no power. It is only by people surrendering their power to the state that the state gains power.

That's how the Magna Carta was forced on the monarchy. The lords got sick of the monarchy's BS and wouldn't take it anymore. The monarchy was forced to comply.

Most people miss this simple truth, that the true source of power comes from the people.

However, when the people surrender their power, or sit idly back and comply, then that concentration of power can do anything it wants... which is never in the best interests of the people. Things are funny that way.

“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” - Some dude

“A Republic, if you can keep it.” - Benjamin Franklin


I saw a film and at the end they had a National Geographic clip where some lions chased 2 water buffalo and a baby water buffalo. The lions overcome the baby as the adults run off. A short while later the adults show up... with the entire herd... who proceed to promptly f-up the lions as the calf escapes.

It's an excellent metaphor. Had the water buffalo (people) given up, the calf (a person) would have been dinner for the lions (state or concentrated power). But when the herd (the people) return and say "NO!", the lions are powerless to resist.

I'd post the clip here, but Facebook is filtered here in Viet Nam, and I'd posted the link on FB (don't remember where to find it again right now). Oh well. If you know my FB page, scroll down on my wall - it's there.

5918

Living Room / Re: Kazakhstan's glorious anthem mishap

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 09:43 PM »

I love the idea that the 'downloaded the wrong anthem from the internet'.

When do the copyright police arrive?

-Carol Haynes (March 26, 2012, 02:13 PM)

I saw that, but thought it best to just leave it alone in the event that the thread descends into one of those piracy threads. But the irony is just wonderful.

Y'know, it kind of makes a good case for countries to have a "CI" page on a web site - Country Image instead of Corporate Image. That way they could specify what music should be used, colours, spacings, etc. It would be an excellent resource for situations like this, and many others too of course. I suppose a CC or public domain license would be best there.

5919

Living Room / Re: #killswitch - it's George Orwell .AND. Aldous Huxley (not .OR.)

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 09:36 PM »

Ok guys, I think maybe we really need to tone down the rhetoric just a bit here. N'cest pas?

-40hz (March 26, 2012, 03:57 PM)

Will... try... summoning... inner-super-powers-of-not-ranting-about-insanity...

For example, and quite coincidentally, I read this today, about Ozzie police war-driving to check on your wifi security:
Aussie Police Declare War on Unprotected Wi-Fi Networks

-IainB (March 26, 2012, 05:19 PM)

Criminals might break in, so we'll break in first! Nice logic.

Ok guys, I think maybe we really need to tone down the rhetoric just a bit here. N'cest pas?

-40hz (March 26, 2012, 03:57 PM)

What's with the plural ("guys")? It was just @Renegade, not I.
Anyway I categorically do not have any problem with @Renegade blowing off steam about scientific/commercial use of embryonic material from aborted foetuses. And it might not necessarily be correct to say that he was using rhetoric, either.

-IainB (March 26, 2012, 09:05 PM)

GRRR~! ROAR~!

Yes. Not "guys". Just me. I'm perfectly capable of descending into a frothing mass of obscenity all by my lonesome~!

5920

General Software Discussion / Re: Whats your preferred web browser?

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 10:01 AM »

Firefox and Opera are the best if you need to download. Chrome blows. As bad as IE. Or worse.

The thing with FF and Opera is that you can pause downloads, etc. etc. Far superior to the others.

So far nobody has mentioned Safari...

5921

Living Room / Re: Old Hard Drives

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 06:23 AM »

Here's another:

http://www.instructa...e-using-hard-drive-/

5922

Living Room / Re: Old Hard Drives

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 06:14 AM »

Make a Tesla Turbine.

-4wd (March 26, 2012, 01:53 AM)

So what is that? Some sort of gryoscope-like device? What's the point of it? I mean besides looking cool/fun?

-Deozaan (March 26, 2012, 02:42 AM)

Looks like fun~!

Found the instructions for it here:

http://www.instructa...ves-and-minimal-too/

But, I don't have the right equipment, and buying a drill press is kind of out of the question... Oh well.

5923

Living Room / Re: #killswitch - it's George Orwell .AND. Aldous Huxley (not .OR.)

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 06:03 AM »

The reason I attached that image was that it takes into account that it ("Huxwellianism") seems to be happening all over the globe - if we hadn't already noticed, or needed reminding. I saw a version of the image with Spanish writing on it in place of the English, and for all I know the image has been produced in other languages too.

-IainB (March 26, 2012, 05:31 AM)

I know. They have the right idea, but man... I just get sick of the hypocrisy.

Let's fix things at home, then worry about other places. You can't save someone from drowning when you have water in your own lungs.

I don't see how this is a thing that can be easily fought though. You probably can't really isolate the "culprits" and kill them for treason or put them in jail without discriminating against them and withdrawing their rights in law. They're all over the place. It's like a systemic cancer. If you want to kill it with (say) radiation therapy, then you might end up having to risk killing yourself (the host) as well.

-IainB (March 26, 2012, 05:31 AM)

Well, I think you could start throwing people in prison for crimes against humanity or treason. But that's a nasty topic that's better avoided here. It's just too messy.

The most important thing is for people to realize what is going on.

Once the % of the population that is aware of this hits critical mass (about 5% or so - after that it spreads like wildfire), they'll lose. No government can maintain power without the tacit consent of the people, at a minimum. Once people speak up, they lose. Because they have to follow the people.

5924

Living Room / Re: how to find the oldest (=original) file on the Internet?

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 05:22 AM »

Seems like no one really read Curt's post.

-PhilB66 (March 26, 2012, 12:04 AM)

I don't think it can be answered. You can modify the date and time on a file, so there's really no such thing as an audit trail for a file.

5925

Living Room / Re: #killswitch - it's George Orwell .AND. Aldous Huxley (not .OR.)

« Last post by Renegade on March 26, 2012, 05:15 AM »

Pepsi uses aborted human fetal tissue in their flavouring. Look it up! (I'm not kidding.)

And that's "normal"? This is the kind of thing that the world has come to?

Cannibalism is "normal"? Eating babies is OK?

-Renegade (March 25, 2012, 11:52 PM)

Pepsi does not do this. 

What they, or Senomyx, are doing is using the cells in research for flavorings (http://www.change.or...-aborted-fetus-cells).

These cells are apparently widely used in biotechnology research: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEK_cell

Note: I'm not saying that the research is just fine and dandy - I'm not saying anything one way or the other here about my opinion on the matter.  I'm just saying that there's a factual difference between using the cells in research and development and actually using the cells in the product.

-mwb1100 (March 26, 2012, 01:55 AM)

Splitting hairs.

Murder for profit either way. It's trafficking in human body parts. Baby human body parts.

No matter how you cut it, these sick, twisted <insert frothing string of obscenities here /> are simply beyond any kind of forgiveness or redemption.