Recent Posts

6326

Living Room / Re: More Hilarity - "Can I have my spy plane back?"

« Last post by Renegade on December 25, 2011, 10:29 PM »

Everybody seems to forget that there are three branches of the government in the US for a reason- checks and balances. 

-wraith808 (December 25, 2011, 09:00 PM)

Yes. This branch writes the checks, so that branch can increase it's bank balance, and... (Sorry - couldn't resist~!)

Everybody seems to forget that there are three branches of the government in the US for a reason- checks and balances.  Though the president does have a lot of power, he is not all powerful and can't act alone.  And in this case, there's been very little that he could do to make things better, with the state of politics in Washington.  Unless that changes, no matter who gets into office, there won't be much difference, other than the spin.

-wraith808 (December 25, 2011, 09:00 PM)

I'm not so sure about that anymore...

The Obama administration has basically given the office of the president god-like powers to do whatever he wants. The next president could simply arrest all of the 3 branches of government as traitors and terrorists. (I couldn't resist that one either~! The sad thing is that it's actually true~!)

6327

Living Room / Re: More Hilarity - "Can I have my spy plane back?"

« Last post by Renegade on December 25, 2011, 07:54 PM »

Now lets turn this round - if Iran sent a spy plane over Washington I'm sure the US would return it without question.

-Carol Haynes (December 25, 2011, 07:27 PM)

Hahahahaha~!

Oh yes! We all know the White House is so consistent and honest. (Egyptian/Libyan/wherever protesters = good. Protesters in the US = bad.)

Terrifying (and stupid) as the whole thing is you have to wonder if Obama is actually more intelligent than George W. Bush because everything seems to indicate "White House Out to Lunch" (nothing new there then).

Reminds me of the huge amount of hope we had in the UK when Tony Blair was originally made PM, the same seems to have happened with the new politics Obama promised.

Hope is the commodity used to win elections these days, and the first casualty of every new government!

-Carol Haynes (December 25, 2011, 07:27 PM)

I really hate that, because it's true.

I'm hoping and praying that Ron Paul wins in 2012 though. He's been consistent with the same message for forever and a day. I can't seem him winning then changing.

He really is the only hope.

Help us Ron Paul! You're our only hope~!

However, I'm just an observer...

6328

Living Room / Re: More Hilarity - "Can I have my spy plane back?"

« Last post by Renegade on December 25, 2011, 07:09 PM »

Interesting...Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship
Quite some time ago, I stopped implicitly believing any BBC report about anything, because they seem to have been engaged in so much propaganda. However, if this report (see link above) is corroborated independently by other news agencies, then it may be evidence of a very serious state of affairs.

I wonder.
Could this UAV thing now make a lot of sense?
Could it be that maybe the Iranians actually had that UAV delivered to them? That would explain why it seems to have appeared as though it was intact/undamaged. But they wouldn't want to let on that they had bought or been given the thing, because that might endanger their sources. So they could have shot one down, so the (US would know they had lost a UAV), destroying it in the process, and then displayed this intact model as the one they purportedly brought to earth in such an immaculate state.

-IainB (December 25, 2011, 05:57 PM)

Well, that sounds kind of nutty, but stranger things have happened. I just can't get around how the US/UK have been posturing themselves to invade Iran, so giving them a drone doesn't seem likely. But it looks like the UK has its eye on Somalia now.

http://rt.com/news/u...a-threat-summit-575/

God only knows what's really going on.

6329

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 25, 2011, 12:56 AM »

Here is good news for india as per CNN IBN... after 6th Feb Supreme Court ordered indian ISP's and social networks to censor following type of content - nsfw, non-religious content, content that makes fun of religion, content that makes fun of politicians and any other protest worthy content. Total 31 social network from around the world got this order from court. Good bye freedom. Welcome medieval age, lets respect idiots. 

-mahesh2k (December 24, 2011, 11:36 PM)

Hold on... Am I reading you right:

nsfw -- self explanatory
>>
non-religious content -- Anything that isn't religious???? This doesn't make any sense. Not even remotely. The entire Indian Internet must be religious?
>>
content that makes fun of religion -- Self explanatory
content that makes fun of politicians and any other protest worthy content -- self explanatory

6330

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2011, 11:08 AM »

@SJ - Bwahahahahahaha~!

You know that you're sending mixed signals now, eh?

6331

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2011, 11:03 AM »

But what we do know is that those people are still employed there, and boycotting after a reversal will hurt them, and make the case less clear cut for people trying to work from the inside in the future.

-wraith808 (December 24, 2011, 10:16 AM)

I'm sure there are many good (albeit horrible misguided...) people that work for the RIAA, but that's not an excuse to cut-them-a-break. The SOPA is an incredible dangerous piece of legislation that requires a crystal clear message. We The People, will not tolerate the further weakening (and destruction) of the Constitution.

A bad idea is just that. A bad idea. And the SOPA is a bad idea. Any mercy shown will only give rise to the perception that maybe it just needs a better spin, or a more subtle pitch/insertion. The corporations need to be fearful of the people ... Not the other way around, which is where it's headed. An example must be made.

-Stoic Joker (December 24, 2011, 10:55 AM)

Dammit... You just make too much sense...

In light of recent legislation that has turned the US into a police state (NDAA 2012), I think that you're right. A message needs to be sent. "You can't walk down the path of evil and hope to get away with it, and when you don't, fake some crocodile tears. You need to behave ethically to start with."

Incidentally, I just posted on the topic of right/wrong here. It's remotely related to this discussion in a very abstract way.

6332

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2011, 10:47 AM »

The thing that people often forget, is that corporations are not entities.  They are made up of people, and the larger the corporation, the more stratified the people are.  Maybe there is a disconnect in management, but there so often is.  There probably wasn't at the lower levels (and perhaps even at the higher levels- the people who couldn't convince the policy makers not to do this).  And perhaps those same people, in the face of the internet screaming, used that as leverage to get things done.  Perhaps the outcry by itself did nothing.  We don't know.

But what we do know is that those people are still employed there, and boycotting after a reversal will hurt them, and make the case less clear cut for people trying to work from the inside in the future.

The thing is, is there a history of negative actions.  Not that I've seen... and that history would bear out the boil them in oil attitude.  Not one incident.  At least IMO.

-wraith808 (December 24, 2011, 10:16 AM)

Grrr... 

Now I'm conflicted again...

Pulling out says that there is no forgiveness... But, it also says to other companies that they had better not go down that path to start with...

Sigh...

6333

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2011, 08:50 AM »

Yeah... I suppose that was the lazy part in me not wanting to deal with moving domains and redoing DNS and all that crap... sigh... 

Cripes... This is going to take forever...

6334

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2011, 05:39 AM »

Please keep the boycott going
http://www.reddit.co..._sopa_flipflop_is_a/

-nosh (December 24, 2011, 02:09 AM)

Hmmm... I'm waffling... I like forgiveness and redemption... Not sure if it's just PR whoredom on GoDaddy's part or not... If they're genuine, then that's one thing... Not sure yet...

But like why would they ever get behind something that insane to begin with? Baffled... 

6335

Living Room / Richard Stallman on RT~! =D

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 10:25 PM »

I just found a show on RT.com (Russia Today) that features Richard Stallman~! (It's a video.)

RICHARD STALLMAN IN A REAL NEWS FEATURE~!

I was so excited about it that I just had to post it immediately here. (I've not watched it yet -- I'm still downloading it.)

http://rt.com/progra...re-richard-stallman/

Richard Stallman – Software Freedom Activist

The computer world is divided in two confronting camps with two totally different philosophies. On the one side are companies that sell programs to make money. On the other are people who believe software must be totally free. Generally paid software dominates, so why don't more people go for the free alternative. And what does that mean for intellectual property? We’re asking one of the leaders of the free software movement, programmer-turned-philosopher Richard Stallman.

Direct download link:

http://rt.com/files/...ivist.mp4?download=1


I only recently discovered RT, but wow... It is so refreshing~!

Sappy Drivel

I've found that the mainstream news media basically makes me suicidal. Everything is so horribly bleak and dismal that I just want to die. Now, there's still a lot of bad stuff happening that RT reports on, but instead of the same oppressive, depressing take on things, RT has a VERY different perspective.

e.g. I saw a CNN reporter interview Ron Paul, and I just wanted to strangle her with a baseball bat for being such a wicked, evil douchette. She was simply so far out of line and at the same time, she and her cohort were utterly self-righteous --- you know > that snotty, arrogant, self-righteousness posing innocently... I just wanted to puke.

And that's the norm for what I see in the mainstream... I hear these people spout utter insanity.

RT finally has some kind of perspective that doesn't make me suicidal. It puts a glimmer of hope in the news.

I'm just so happy that I could just about cry! It's like, finally... a warm candle illuminating the pitch black of cold dungeon cell...

I think a lot of people here will find the perspective and news reporting a very welcome change from the mainstream media.

Their tag line seems to sum it up nicely: QUESTION MORE.

Anyways... 1 hour left for this download... I can't wait~!

6336

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 08:29 PM »

Among the other good guys, the people over at YouPorn:

Copy & paste as I'm not linking to porn here --> blog.youporn.com/stop-sopa-stop-internet-censorship/

What it really comes down to is: Are you willing to put absolute control of the Internet into the hands of the US Government and a select few entertainment industry corporations? I know I’m not, YouPorn sure as hell isn’t, the entire PornHub Network isn’t, and the hundreds of thousands of companies and people that have joined the cause? You can bet your ass they don’t.

6337

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 08:14 PM »

Just got an answer from TuCows. They pointed me here:

https://twitter.com/#!/tucows/status/136637887608397824

Short version - They're some of the good guys.

6338

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 07:56 PM »

Victory! Boycott forces GoDaddy to drop its support for SOPA
By Timothy B. Lee | Published about 4 hours ago

Under intense pressure from an Internet-wide boycott, domain registrar GoDaddy has given the open Internet an early Christmas present: it's dropping its support for the Stop Online Piracy Act. The change was announced in a statement sent to Ars Technica:

    Go Daddy is no longer supporting SOPA, the "Stop Online Piracy Act" currently working its way through U.S. Congress.

    "Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation—but we can clearly do better," Warren Adelman, Go Daddy's newly appointed CEO, said. "It's very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."

-berry (December 23, 2011, 07:47 PM)

Woohoo~!

A win for sanity~!

At Techcrunch:

http://techcrunch.co...onger-supports-sopa/

For those who somehow missed it: after GoDaddy publicly stated their support for SOPA yesterday morning, a colossal chunk of the Internet (read: the chunk that understands how the Internet works) began to rally. There were no torches or pitchforks here; the only weapons here were wallets, all being carried off in another direction.

6339

Living Room / Re: Adware is not freeware, right?

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 09:59 AM »

Adware is not freeware. Someone is paying for it, just like someone is paying for shareware...it's just not the end user that is doing the paying.

If you are ok with someone else paying for your software and having to see the credit they get for doing so (that's all an ad is) then there is nothing wrong with it, as long as the developer is up front about it so that you can make an informed decision. If you are going to be the product, with your info sold to someone else, you should know about that in advance, as well.

-app103 (December 23, 2011, 08:55 AM)

app! That's what I've been trying to say for a long time!

Let people know. Be honest. Don't hide things.

I just hate the old world connotations where the douches that used to serve ads never told anyone. That's then. This is now. I think we need to re-evaluate things.

6340

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 07:32 AM »

Please note that I am not interested in any services hosted by any UK company though. I don't see the UK as significantly different from the US. They're turning into a police state the same way the US is.

-Renegade (December 23, 2011, 03:03 AM)

@Ren - Don't mean to rain on your parade, but most of the world is turning into a police state if it hasn't already. We've entered the Age of Expedience. And our data links go everywhere. So geographic boundaries and national borders are no longer meaningful when it comes to political policies and agendas.

But maybe that's because all the corporations with real clout are multinationals?

"Global Village." (Fear it!)

-40hz (December 23, 2011, 06:24 AM)

Yeah... I know... But I'd like to find some place that's less "policey" and less douchey than the US.

Politically charged with pro love

I've lived in places where rights were restricted, but everyone knew it. There were clear laws. There was no illusion of absolute free speech. I don't mind that. I'm OK with most of that. I know where I stand there. I know what I can/cannot do. I know the limits.

With the US? It's a free for all. You don't know what is illegal anymore. You can be arrested for any reason at all. You can be executed for any reason. Tortured. God knows what. I'm not OK with that.

One time I was approached because one of my faculty had accessed a web site that was illegal for political reasons and that had come to the attention of the national intelligence agency. I smoothed things over and brought it up with the faculty, but it was still very chilling.

I used to sit around and drink with spooks. They were some very nice people. Tight lipped about a lot of things, but open about many others.

Really, I just want to move to somewhere that I can publish without fear.

BELLIGERENT.ME Announcement

Oh, perhaps this is a good time to announce...

I bought BELLIGERENT.ME for the sole purpose of being belligerent against tyrrany. e.g. SOPA, etc. etc.

I'm currently (slowly) trying to recruit a few people to help out with the site. There are some very simple conditions:

* Pro freedom
* Pro liberty
* Pro free speech
* Pro not killing people
* Pro tolerance
* Anti war
* Anti hate (except for hating obvious things like hating tyrrany/the police state/etc.)
* Anti bigotry

If anyone is interested, PM me or email me (my email address is very easy to find).

I'm in the planning stages now. I've got 2 people on board now. 1 is from here on DC - someone that I have a great amount of respect for.

Peace, love, and eternal groovieness~!

6341

Living Room / Re: A Merry Christmas card

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 06:51 AM »

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S ~ !

I don't get the controversy

I really don't get the controversy. Like, who cares?

There are lots of religious holidays that promote positive values. I think those are good. How can anyone be offended by that? Whether or not you believe in any religion or any God/god/gods, why would you care?

Is this why the UK has "bank holidays"?

Are festive decorations offensive?

Now, the Indian festival of colours... That's a different matter... I think you really need to make certain that you're wearing clothes that can get all coloured. You do need a bit of warning for that one. But like seriously... if you're going to be showered in colours, you know ahead of time. (It sounds like a wicked cool festival/holiday!) But like how could anyone be offended by that?

One of my favourite holidays is Buddah's birthday. Like what's not to love?

I haven't seen/read/heard any kind of intelligent argument that would justify suppressing any kind of festival/holiday.

Am I just thick-skinned?

6342

Living Room / SOPA Cabana

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 06:10 AM »

If you've not seen it yet, this is EVERYWHERE now:

Pass it on.

6343

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2011, 03:03 AM »

India is going to follow the same footsteps and opting for a bill that protects religious sentiments. So it's okay for religious people to say "infidels should burn in hell" but you as a non-believer have no rights to lift a finger on them,It's a word of god ofcourse to create non-believer product and then asking believer product to save that  lost soul from going into dustbin, makes sense. This is no different than SOPA, as we already have politicians controlling RIM, Google and Facebook to control any random content going from india to pakistan or iraq.

-mahesh2k (December 23, 2011, 01:06 AM)

It infuriates me how bad policy in the US seems to get exported... Monkey see... monkey do...

@Renegade, I'm searching for european hosts as of now so I'll update thread for alternative to US hosts.

-mahesh2k (December 23, 2011, 01:06 AM)

Thanks! Do post back.

Please note that I am not interested in any services hosted by any UK company though. I don't see the UK as significantly different from the US. They're turning into a police state the same way the US is. Heck, they've labeled students as terrorists... Like WTF?

I don't know much about continental Europe though... My gut is telling me that anywhere in the "west" is likely to be suspect though... The news there about India is very disconcerting though... It seems the disease is widespread.

6344

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 22, 2011, 11:15 PM »

I have been using idotz.net for a long time and I am very happy with them. They are owned by BRS Media, a San Fransisco company that is very friendly and supportive to independent internet radio. They also accept Paypal.

-app103 (December 22, 2011, 10:53 PM)

Thanks for the recommendation there. I think that I'm just going to completely get out of the US as much as possible though.

Maybe if Ron Paul wins next year, then I'd want to return as I think he can sort out the nuttiness and return to sanity.

Sigh...

Can I say that I'm proud to be Canadian? Well...

-Renegade (December 22, 2011, 10:49 PM)

Good old 80s 

-rgdot (December 22, 2011, 11:14 PM)

They're still my favourite band!

6345

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 22, 2011, 10:49 PM »

Canada, believe me I live here, is traveling down similar path. I have heard good things about gandi but have to admit 90% of my stuff are at namecheap.

-rgdot (December 22, 2011, 10:38 PM)

Sigh...

Can I say that I'm proud to be Canadian? Well...

6346

General Software Discussion / Re: best font for html email?

« Last post by Renegade on December 22, 2011, 10:43 PM »

I usually go with a screen optimized font like Ariel in 12 or 14pt.

-40hz (December 22, 2011, 05:08 PM)

Bingo! Same here.

I would avoid Times and other serif fonts as they are harder to read onscreen. Serifs do better in print.

-Renegade (December 22, 2011, 10:20 PM)

Generally speaking, that is true, although when used sparingly, Georgia makes a great font for headings.

I'd add Verdana and Tahoma as nice, simple fonts that are very readable onscreen.

-Renegade (December 22, 2011, 10:20 PM)

Verdana is a good "fluffing" font for when you want the text to take up more space. It is pretty close to Ariel, but wider. A favorite of high school students when writing reports. I wouldn't use it for a long email or if you tend to be verbose, since the width will make the email seem even longer than it is.

-app103 (December 22, 2011, 10:33 PM)

Yes - I like Georgia. I find it slightly more elegant than Times. It's also slightly larger at the same point size, which I suppose is a part of the appeal.

As for Verdana, yeah... It's quite wide. I've never had to deal with those kinds of issues though -- fluffing reports.

I can't stand Chinese or Japanese fonts for the Roman alphabet. They're simply painful to look at. Many Korean fonts are similarly painful, though in general they are readable with some even being pleasant onscreen. I've really never noticed anything odd in other non-English fonts.

I think the safest font around is Arial Unicode MS. It's simply easy to read and complete. Few machines don't have it, which makes it very safe to use.

6347

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 22, 2011, 10:29 PM »

Thanks SJ.

I've just emailed a fellow I know there to ask about their policies regarding SOPA and whatnot. I suppose I'd feel safer being registered in Canada, but god knows that Ottawa takes one up the poop-chute every now and then from Washington D.C.

It's at the point now that I'm thinking about ditching SoftLayer for no other reason than that they are in the US. (I don't want to derail this discussion, but if anyone can recommend an excellent host that is OUTSIDE the US, I'd appreciate it.) I'm simply sick and tired of the downward spiral into the police state there. I already don't voice what I really think about some things, but I'd at least like to be able to post those rants if I wanted to. At the moment, I don't think that I could.

6348

General Software Discussion / Re: best font for html email?

« Last post by Renegade on December 22, 2011, 10:20 PM »

+1 for Consolas, Calibri, and Arial.

I'd add Verdana and Tahoma as nice, simple fonts that are very readable onscreen.

I would avoid Times and other serif fonts as they are harder to read onscreen. Serifs do better in print.


I have mine set to Calibri 11pt.

6349

Living Room / Re: Reddit Leaving GoDaddy because of SOPA Support

« Last post by Renegade on December 22, 2011, 10:06 PM »

Thanks.

I think I'll be switching from GoDaddy as soon as I'm able to/have time. I've been with them for years, and they've been very good, but I'm simply not down with police states, censorship, suppression of free speech, or any of that nonsense.

Can some other people please chime in with personal recommendations for different registrars?

I have a large number of domains, and would like to transfer them as painlessly as possible. I don't want to have to redo DNS for every domain if I don't have to, so that's probably my #1 technical concern.

6350

General Software Discussion / Re: Question about extra-large JPG

« Last post by Renegade on December 22, 2011, 09:58 PM »

JPEG files have designated areas for storing data. If the file is that large, then likely there's some garbage or null data somewhere. If you can simply recover the image then save it at 100% quality, you should be good.

I've had trouble opening some images with Irfanview in the past. That was simply because Irfanview skipped some error checking and just puked on some bad images. The data is still there, and some programs do check for those specific errors in images.

Anyways... don't worry too much about the massive file. Just recover it, then delete it.

I need to get some work done, so I can't check the files directly... Sorry... But I hope the above helps somewhat.