Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Work Stuff...

Well I am still on night shift, 3rd shift to be exact.  I have to walk around and monitor equipment in 4 different server farms to make sure that the temperatures are within the normal rages.  One nice thing is that I get to walk around and listen to music all night long! I take my Creative Zen Touch (40gig) and load it full of music to listen to. I normally get threw about 3-4 albums a night. I am at the moment listening to In The Nursery or I am at least trying to get through their discography by the end of the week. I go through cycles with my music so it is nice to have a big MP3 player to hold lots of stuff! Perhaps tonight I will take a break with the “Neo-Classics” of In The Nursery and listen to some “Dream Pop” of This Mortal Coil. Yall have a good Halloween night and get lots of candy!!!

 

RMStringer

******************

"Seduction is thus a central, indeed in certain respects, the central idea, in political life.

It signifies a course of action deliberately designed by one or more interested

agents to undermine and replace some established loyalty."

Kenneth Minogue (November issue of The New Criterion)

 

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Verizon Settles Probe Into Data Plans...

I guess that Unlimited will have to mean "Unlimited" now. All the major Internet carriers have a "cap" set, you will not know what it is until you reach it. Comcast is about 500gig a month and Verizon is much much less than that.

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a penalty and reimburse users who were disconnected for "excessive" use of a cellular broadband service that was marketed as allowing "unlimited" use, New York's state attorney general announced Tuesday.

A nine-month investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office found that Verizon Wireless disconnected 13,000 subscribers for exceeding an undisclosed monthly usage cap.
Under the settlement, Verizon Wireless will reimburse the terminated subscribers for the cost of the laptop cards or laptop-connected cell phones they bought to use the service. The company put the cost at around $1 million. It will also pay $150,000 in penalties and costs to the state.
The prosecutor's office said the company voluntarily stopped disconnecting customers based on their data usage in April.

Verizon's user agreement for the BroadbandAccess plan prohibits continuous streaming of audio or video and peer-to-peer file sharing, all of which generate heavy traffic.

It also reserves the right to disconnect or slow down traffic for anyone using too much data, but since this spring, the cap has been explicit rather than undisclosed: 5 gigabytes of data per month.

The agreement says the plan is only to be used for Web surfing, e-mail and corporate intranet access, activities that are unlikely to generate 5 gigabytes of traffic in a month.

"We are pleased to have cooperated with the New York Attorney General and to have voluntarily reached this agreement," said Howard Waterman, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless. "When this was brought to our attention, we understood that advertising for our NationalAccess and BroadbandAccess services could provide more clarity."

The company will be contacting affected customers for reimbursement.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

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Senators want probe on content blocking...

I figured that Comcast and Verizon would get their asses in a sling from their actions. I did several posts a few weeks ago about these issues.


By DIBYA SARKAR, AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON - Two Senators on Friday called for a congressional hearing to investigate reports that phone and cable companies are unfairly stifling communications over the Internet and on cell phones.

Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said the incidents involving several companies, including Comcast Corp., Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., have raised serious concerns over the companies' "power to discriminate against content."

They want the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to investigate whether such incidents were based on legitimate business policies or unfair and anticompetitive practices and if more federal regulation is needed.

"The phone and cable companies have previously stated that they would never use their market power to operate as content gatekeepers and have called efforts to put rules in place to protect consumers 'a solution in search of a problem,'" they said in a letter to Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the committee's chairman.

A committee spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
An Associated Press report on Oct. 19 detailed how Comcast Corp. was interfering with file sharing by some of its Internet subscribers. The AP found instances in some areas of the country where traffic was blocked or delayed significantly.

Comcast — the nation's No. 2 Internet provider — has acknowledged "delaying" some subscriber Internet data, but said the delays are temporary and intended to improve surfing for other users.

Verizon Wireless in late September denied a request by Naral Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, to use its mobile network for a sign-up text messaging program.

The company reversed course just a day later, calling it a mistake and an "isolated incident."
AT&T reportedly changed a service agreement that previously included language permitting the company to cancel accounts of Internet users who disparage the company.

Several lawmakers, including Dorgan, earlier this year introduced so-called legislation promoting "Net neutrality," which is the principle that all Internet traffic be treated equally by carriers.

Equal treatment of traffic is long-standing practice on the Internet. The legislation is a response to suggestions by phone companies that they would like charge Web sites extra for preferential treatment of their traffic.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Britain-based Vodafone Group PLC.


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Ten ways to thwart Big Brother...

We’ve never been under such intense scrutiny as we are today. So how do we evade the snoopers? Here, an ‘off-grid’ expert offers an insider’s guide
By Nick Rosen

We live in the most watched-over society in Europe. Exposure, especially in The Observer, has done little to hold the state and private sector in check. Phone records have become police records, as Henry Porter pointed out in this paper last week, and CCTV camera records are now fed into the automatic registration number computer. Credit and store-card records have become marketing records and our email addresses are points of entry for all sorts of crime and spam.

It’s time to fight back using all the legal means at our disposal. We need to duck under the radar of government surveillance, credit-checking agencies, internet and mobile phone companies or the DVLA. I have been learning how to keep the info-snoopers at bay. My research has led me into a world of middle-aged hoodies, who cover up in shopping centres to avoid the CCTV cameras; of young computer users who keep their names off spam lists and out of reach of the megacorps; and people who live off-grid, out of sight of the system and unplugged from the utility companies. So, here’s is a survival checklist for the information age.

1 Buy an untraceable mobile phone
Travel to a town you have never visited before, to an area with no CCTV cameras and ask a homeless person to buy a pay-as-you-go mobile phone for you. That way no shop will have your image on its CCTV. You will also have an anonymous mobile.

In order to keep your anonymity, top it up in a shop with no CCTV outside. Or dispense with the phone altogether and return to the humble payphone, now the preserve of tourists and the super-poor.

Even if you stick to your traceable phone, leave it switched off whenever possible to avoid having your movements tracked. Many phones are still traceable, so you need to take the battery out to be certain. If you have a Bluetooth phone, keep the service switched off because this is now being tested for advertising and other marketing activities.

2 Safeguard your email
If you use one of the free, web-based services like Gmail, your communications are being stored to build up a picture of your interests. Instead, you can use a service called Hushmail to send encrypted emails. Or work out a private code with friends you want to communicate with.
You do not need an email address of your own. One hacker I spoke to sends emails from cybercafes via The Observer website, using the service which allows anyone to send any article to a friend. He embeds his message into the covering note which goes with the article.
Others with their own computer use the free XeroBank browser (in preference to Explorer or Firefox), which includes several privacy-enhancing add-ons and sends all data through a network ‘cloud’ which hides most of the data you normally give away as you use a computer, but at the cost of reduced speed (http://xerobank.com/xB_browser.html).

3 Safeguard your computer and your files
There is sophisticated software that deletes all traces of your activities from your computer. Assuming you don’t have access to this, it is still worth remembering the data about you contained inside each file. Many digital photos, for example, contain within them the serial number of the camera that took them. Word documents contain the name of the author as well as traces of previous drafts.

4 Be invisible to CCTV cameras
Steve is a middle-aged IT consultant who lives in a bungalow on a smart private estate in south west London. He has never committed a criminal act. When he goes to business meetings, he wears a suit and tie, but when he walks around his local high street, he dons a hoodie. He does it on principle.

‘I don’t disapprove of the technology in its rightful place,’ Steve told me, ‘but we have an unregulated mess. It hasn’t reduced crime in any real sense - it’s displaced it in some cases.’ Media reports always say there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK, but they have been using that figure for the past two years. So it’s a safe bet we have at least six million by now, and there is no central register. You can use the Data Protection Act to request a copy of your own image from any particular camera, but that is simply a way of harassing CCTV owners, not safeguarding your identity.

5 Stay off spam mailing lists
Each time you submit your email address to register for a new website, create a special address, either on a free webmail service or on your own email server so you have control over it. Then, if the company later sells your email address or loses it through poor security, you will know exactly who to blame. And you will be able to close the account or block all email to that particular address. Again, Hushmail is useful for this. You can set it up to create these aliases for you.

6 Prevent supermarkets knowing your shopping habits
Swap your supermarket loyalty card with a friend or acquaintance every few months, after having cashed in any points you have accumulated (treat Oyster and other local transport cards the same way). You lose no benefits and it prevents tracking of specific purchasing patterns (or journeys) tied to your name and address. Use cash more often - save your credit card for emergencies.

7 Avoid utility companies’ marketing departments
Live off-grid, unplugged from the system with solar panels and rainwater harvesting. There are tens of thousands of people living without mains power, water or sewerage, in isolated cottages, behind hedgerows in caravans or in groups of yurts in country fields. And this is not just a movement for tree huggers and climate campers. Many live on boats in towns and cities, and if you live in a flat or house, you can still unplug.

8 Keep your car off the automatic number recognition system
The simplest way is to leave the car at home and use a bicycle. But if you must drive, don’t go into a congestion zone at any time. There are other legal ways to hide your registration number from the cameras - swap the light above the rear numberplate for an infrared bulb and that will flood the video-camera which operates at near infrared frequency.

9 Safeguard your NHS data
If you are born in this country, then your NHS records are inescapable. But you can choose to store them with your GP to keep them off the central computer, and this should reduce the chances of the medical records being sold (legally) to drugs companies or (illegally) to private detectives or being snooped on by the 300,000 ‘authorised users’ of the system, without affecting medical care.

There is no need to worry about, for example, records of your blood group not being available to medical staff after an accident - doctors no longer rely on paper or computer records. The automated diagnostic blood group tests are done by the ambulance crew on the way to hospital. You can get a form letter to send to the NHS from nhsconfidentiality.org.

10 Shop outside the system
The website Freecycle (freecycle.org) could provide many of your needs. It consists of hundreds of short announcements from people trying to give away stuff they no longer need: beds, TVs, bookcases, the whole of human life is there in return for the cost of picking it up from the donor. There are local Freecycle groups all over the country (and the world), each with their own local web address. Some people make a decent living gathering things from Freecycle and selling them at car boot sales.

There are full-time scavengers living off food retrieved from supermarket bins, because vast amounts of produce are simply thrown away on the eve of their sell-by date.
Another way to avoid buying food is to barter for it. The car park of the pub in the centre of Longframlington village in Northumberland has been a barter centre for decades. On any Friday night between April and October, locals arrive and flip down the backs of their 4×4s laden with the week’s produce, whether its chanterelles, venison, pheasant, line-caught salmon or the latest crop of beetroots and lettuces.

Technically, this innocent activity is tax evasion. ‘It’s all very rustic and encourages a paper-free environment, but this can underpin what can only amount to potential income tax, corporation tax or VAT non-disclosure, or even fraud,’ said accountant Julie Butler. But does Alistair Darling really want to take another bash at the delicate fabric of the countryside?

It may seem almost comical to go to these lengths, but the ways companies and the public sector can misuse data isn’t a joke. We cannot trust them to safeguard our data or use it ethically, so we must provide our own safeguards.

· Nick Rosen is editor of the Off-Grid website: off-grid.net



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Things That Piss Geeks Off...

Thanks to Rea Maor:

The Geek community is sometimes one of the easiest demographics to peg. Go to Star Trek conventions, have a level 78 wizard in a MMORG, collect manga? OK, you’re in. Try that with soccer moms or middle managers. You’re likely to end up running into a soccer mom who is a middle manager. One of the most gregarious attributes of geeks is that when you have one geek mad at you, they’re all mad at you at the same time.

Here’s something that I think may help non-geeks deal with geeks a little easier: when you have a whole slew of geeks mad at you, and you don’t know why, check this list:

Laziness - Number one, and probably numbers two through five as well. I’m not talking about body-lazy; geeks here are indifferent. But mental laziness drives geeks to scream and claw down masonry. If you ever want to get flamed to a golden brown with a side of Hollandaise sauce, just pop into a chat and ask a question that Google could have answered, or post in a forum with a question that’s answered on page one of the manual.

Irresponsibility - Geeks are big believers in “they are best helped who help themselves”. If you got into a jam through your own stupidity, a geek will be more likely to point it out to you than offer sympathy. Did you get ripped off in a 419 scam, get a virus from an email attachment, or get your site hacked from leaving a gaping hole in your password verification method? You should have known better, sniff the geeks.

Greed - Now, a little greed isn’t too bad. Geeks have jobs and like to make money, too. But when a corporation or industry takes it too far and does stuff like… oh, say… force a mom to take her baby video offline because it contains a Prince song. Stuff like that draws the ire out of the community. Boooo! Mean, mean Universal Music Publishing Group hates mommies and little babies!

Inept Bureaucracy - Geeks lack patience. When they go to the government or their management to get this simple little thing done, and it takes filling out mountains of paperwork to do it, they’re just as likely to say “forget it”, or else try to look for clever ways to bypass it. To a geek, time isn’t just money; it’s life’s breath.

Hypocrisy - Ooooo! Don’t say one thing and do another around a geek; they will catch it, document it, and post it for all time. For instance, if you’re a paid corporate shill, that’s all you; the most you get is mild dismissal. But keep being a paid corporate shill while pretending to be one of the geek bunch, and may Cthulhu have mercy on your soul!





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Fall season

We finally had some cold weather last night. it got into the low 30s. i had to bring all of my house plants into the house. Sondra always loves this time of year because the house becomes a jungle! Also this weekend we have Daylight Savings Time once again. DST Ends at 2 a.m on November 4th. I will be at work that night as i am scheduled to work some overtime the next two weekends.

Just a note: For the U.S. and its territories, Daylight Saving Time is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Arizona . The Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy, even in Arizona, due to its large size and location in three states.



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Sleeping time...

Over the past few years i have had trouble getting to sleep and then staying a sleep. When i would try to go to sleep, my mind would start to race and i might be physically tired, but my mind would be wide awake. I do not know the reasons for this, perhaps it is from when i used to abuse drugs as i required little or no sleep. I might have dammaged my sleep cycle from those activities. I have always been a lite sleeper and if i were to get woken up, it would take me hours to get back to sleep. I also have to have some noise in the room like a fan or music. When i lived in Texas, i had music playing all night and i slept better.

While i lived in Massachusetts, i tried Ambien, but i did not like it so i switched to Lunesta. I stayed with it till i got to Richmond and then i had to up the dose to a 3mg pill. i have been on it for about 2 years and it stopped working on my. It would not keep me sleeping all night like it is supposed to do, so i decided to switch to 12.5mg AmbienCR. So far, i have been on it for a week and it is great. it puts me to sleep and keeps me a sleep like it is supposed to.

When i am able to switch to a normal work shift like a day shift, i will get off of the sleep aids. At this time, they are needed so i can sleep during the day as it is hard. Or at least, i would like to get off of them, but if i need them to sleep, then i will continue to take them. We all have to sleep somehow.



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Tree of ghostes

Another pic from BG on saturday night. They had neat lighting all over the park. It was very packed as well with over 20,000 people that night as it was the last weekend of the season to be opened. I will post a few more pics later.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Mack: News From the Real World

Thanks to Mack Hall for letting me post this.

 

News From the Real World

 

Researchers from a Welsh university have discovered a 400-year-old clam off Iceland.  When the clam was transported to Wales it immediately demanded refugee status, a government apartment, social services in its own language, and a weekly check, and declared a bitter hatred of all things Welsh.

 

California prisoners are helping fight wildfires at one dollar an hour, while FEMA employees have held a completely fake press conference in order to deceive the American people.  Given their record, perhaps FEMA staffers should be the ones dressed in orange jump suits and working for a dollar an hour. 

 

According to the BBC, many Bolivians consider a llama fetus to be sacred.  Perhaps the typical resident of La Paz drives around with a llama fetus on his dashboard, or carries one in a knitted cover.  Maybe Bolivians have silly religious arguments that are prefaced with "Well, my llama fetus says…."

 

Do Bolivian schools feature a Meet Me at the Pole With Your Llama Fetus day?

 

A theorist (whatever that is) from the London School of Economics predicts that the human race will split into two different species.  This is old news, as there are already two kinds of human beings, those who believe there are two kinds of human beings and those who do not.

 

Who does a grief counselor visit when he has a grief?

 

According to The New York Times, Democrats in Congress are planning a shorter work-week.  And some people say there is no God.

 

California's state environmentalist pests are distressed about the air pollution from the fires.  Smoke.  It's called smoke.

 

Homeland Security has pressured New York to grant driving licenses to illegal aliens.  So what will New York do if illegal aliens drive without licenses? Arrest them for violating the law?

 

The Italian government has determined that a series of unexplained house fires is due to space aliens.  Maybe the space aliens are angry about not being issued driving licenses.

 

A police ball in Philadelphia when a police officer and his ex-girlfriend, a former police officer retired on disability, traded punches.  The news article does not mention who answered the 911 call.

 

The CEO of the premiere American manufacturer of body armor has been arrested for spending some ten million (yep, that's seven zeroes in all) of his company's dollars on a party for his daughter. Other young people, posted to Iraq, will be glad to hear that. 

 

Ten million dollars of other people's money for his own bloated ego -- who does this guy think he is, the Archbishop of Los Angeles?

 

G. I. Joe is going Belgian.  He will now be part of an international based in Brussels, the imperial capital of Europe, and will be fighting a Scotch arms dealer.  And one can understand; every man or woman in Europe sleeps fitfully because of the ongoing fear of being attacked by Angus and his Flaming Haggis of Death.

 

A Japanese-owned English-language school system in Japan has collapsed, leaving hundreds of English teachers, all British subjects, stranded and moneyless.  One would think that even an English teacher would have enough sense to keep a return ticket and some backup funds. 

 

CBS reports that French Prez Sarkozy walked out of a 60 Minutes interview.  The question is why he ever agreed to visit that last barricade of Roosevelt's New Deal and risk being gummed to death by cranky old men who haven't enjoyed a fresh idea since 1956.

 

And now you may fold this excellent newspaper, sit peacefully on your porch with a cup of coffee, and take comfort from the fact that competent men and women, most of them freely elected, are running the world.

 

-30-

 




Croydon is a remarkable place. I went there once or twice, and I discovered that it possessed, among other things, at least five or six new religions.

-- G. K. Chesterton



Sunday, October 28, 2007

More trees...

More cool lighting effects on trees last night at Busch Gardens.

Cheer Comp!

Fame Cheer from VA Beach & Richmond in Porthsmith today. Mass Cheerabration!

Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens

WE went there last night to Howl-O-Scream and we had a blast! It was funny to see how sacred some people really are.  Most of the rides were working  and they were fun to do as always. We rode several roller coasters last night and we did a few haunted houses. I have a few pics to put up tomorrow.  It was well worth the money for it.  The park had over 24,000 people in it last night. I was really surprised about that and I was told that last weekend they had to close the park several times due to it being at max capacity which is 34,000 people!!!  Tonight is the last day it is opened for the season. At the end of the night, we rode the Loch Ness Monster 5 times!!

 

 SO we will be going next year…

 

RMStringer

+++++++++++++++++++

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata"

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Sweet tree...

BG @ night.

Rain...

Over the last 4 days we have had 5.25 inches of rain in our area.  I am very grateful about this as we have been in very bad drought. We had only 1.11 inches of rain in nearly 60 days before the rain event that we have had over the last 4 days.  It is supposed to be cool and dry over the next week.

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood

over questions of reality and illusion.

I know this: if life is an illusion, then I

am no less an illusion, and being thus, the

illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I

love, I slay, and I am content.

(Robert E. Howard, Queen of the Black Coast, Weird Tales, May 1934)

 

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Rain so far...

Well, so far since it has been raining, we have gotten 3.75 inches of rain and we are expecting about 1-2 more inches by early Saturday morning! 

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced

equation inherent to the programming of the matrix.

You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite

my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate

from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not

unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control.

Which has led you, inexorably, here." - The Architect, The Matrix Reloaded

 

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Rain!

The Blog...

I am going to try to give the blog more attention and have better content. I am working a new job, same company, but at a different site and i do not have access to the Internet at night. I have more time at home and i will try to devote more time to research to bring better content to you my readers.

Thank you for your patronage...


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A few memories…

When I was born, it was in Austin Texas. I was born at Seaton Memorial, which is no longer there. It has been torn down. We lived in campus housing there at UT and some apartments on North Lamar Blvd. They are still there. Soon afterward, we moved to Kirbyville Texas where I lived until my 8th grade year then I moved to Jasper to live with my mother and I graduated from Jasper High school in 1989.

Throughout my whole life I always wanted to live as far away from there as I could, I even said that I wanted to live in New Your City, I got very close to there, Massachusetts was about 5 hours from there. I also felt this incredible draw to Austin Texas. I did make it back to Austin, but it was not what I expected.

I was a big partier when I was about 18 years old until I was 29 and I decided to get my life straightened out. All the while, I always had the vision or dream if you will about if I was able to go and live in Austin that my life would be complete. I would have the friends that I wanted to have and the job that I needed, the girl, bla bla bla and so on and so forth. I can still picture that scene with me and my friends walking down a street in Austin laughing and joking with each other. I can still remember the clothes and hair that I would have as strange as that is.

Looking back on this dream, I can tell that I was part of my addiction manifesting itself at an early age. I was never really comfortable in my own skin even at an early age; I had friends and had what I wanted, but it was more than that. I was an unrest that I could never put my finger upon until later in my life after I got clean and sober. I have been clean and sober for over 5 years now. I did make it to my promise land, Austin, and the things that I sought after for so many years did not come to fruition. I was deeply in the throes of my addiction at that time and was miserable with myself and everyone around me.

Some good did come out of me moving to Austin, I did get clean and I did get married to a very special and wonderful person whom I love and admire. I have a wonderful daughter. I have a family of my own and even though at times it might be hard, I would not trade it for anything in the world. We have done more in the last 5+ years together then I could have ever have hoped for when I was out there suffering with my disease. My life has turned out well, better that I could have hoped for thanks to my wife who has stood there for me when times were bad.


With that, I bid you a good night…


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The New Pledge of Allegiance


Very Funny Clip...

I think that it came from Bob and Tom Show. I think that the person is Rodney Carrington.


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Rain!!!

After 60 days with only 1.11inches that occurred on September 14, we are finally getting some much needed rain here in our fair Town and Metroplex!

http://www.nbc12.com/weather

“Well, we all knew it would rain again, and it's finally here. A frontal boundary draped across southern VA will combine with a large upper-level low pressure system over Mississippi to spread waves of moisture through the region tonight. Totals will be determined by pockets of isolated heavier rain showers that will affect some areas more than others. Thursday will keep the shower chance in place, although they won't be as focused or widespread. By Friday, a cold front from the Midwest will sweep into the region, passing offshore early Saturday. That front will have ample moisture, and could very well bring significant rainfall to many parts of the area. By the time this entire, complex system moves away (Saturday), most of Virginia will have received substantial rainfall. To the west, in the upper basins of our rivers, amounts of several inches are possible, which could soon lead to rises in our river levels locally.”

Radar Link: Just Click on it.

RMStringer

********************

"To open the eternal worlds, to

open the immortal eyes Of man

Inwards, into the worlds of thought, into Eternity". ITN

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

10 Anti-Phishing Firefox Extensions

 

 

RMStringer

#################

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Author Unknown

 

 

 



 

For most Internet users, defending against phishing attacks is a top priority. Typically, phishing attacks involve phony emails and fraudulent web sites that try to lure users into disclosing user names, passwords and other personal information, such as credit card numbers and social security numbers.

The damage caused by phishing attacks ranges from loss of access to your web account to identity theft. Once the personal information is obtained, the phishers may use one’s details to steal money, create fake accounts etc.

One popular way to combat phishing attacks is to maintain a list of known phishing sites and to check web sites against the list. This hack highlights 10 anti-phishing Firefox extensions that can be used to mitigate the risk of being a victim of a phishing attack.

PhishTank SiteChecker - SiteChecker blocks phishing web sites based on data from the PhishTack community. When you visit a web site known to PhishTank as a phishing web site, SiteChecker will display a block page instead of the phishing web page. Download PhishTank SiteChecker.

Google Safe Browsing - Google Safe Browsing alerts you if a web page that you visit appears to be asking for your personal or financial information under false pretences (phishing web sites). By combining advanced algorithms with reports about misleading pages from a number of sources, Google Safe Browsing is often able to automatically warn you when you encounter a page that’s trying to trick you into disclosing personal information. Download Google Safe Browsing.

WOT -WOT helps you steer clear of online fraud and phishing web sites, by allowing you to see web sites reputations on your browser. By knowing the reputation of a web site, it becomes easier to avoid accessing phishing web sites. The reputations are taken from testimonies contributed by the WOT community. Download WOT.

Verisign EV Green Bar - This extension adds extended validation certificate support to your browser. When you access a secure web site, the address bar turns green and displays certificate owner and certification authority. This extension is extremely useful to determine whether a web site is phony. Download Verisign EV Green Bar.

iTrustPage - iTrustPage prevents Internet users from filling out untrustworthy web forms. When visiting a web site that has a web form, iTrustPage computes the TrustScore for the form page. When the score is high, iTrustPage deems the web page as trustworthy; otherwise it is untrustworthy. Download iTrustPage.

Finjan SecureBrowsing - Finjan SecureBrowsing checks links in search results and websites and warns you of potentially malicious links. It performs real-time code analysis of the current content on each web page. It detects potentially malicious code and undesirable behavior. Each link is marked as safe (green) or potentially dangerous (red). Download Finjan SecureBrowsing.

FirePhish - FirePhish warns you whenever you surf to a site which is known as a phishing site or has suspicious characteristics. Download FirePhish.

CallingID Link Advisor - CallingID Link Advisor verifies that links you see are safe before you follow them. When the mouse is placed over any link, a risk assessment and the full details of the site owner are displayed, helping you decide whether the site is trustworthy. CallingID Link Advisor also warns you of links to sites that are known as phishing sites. Download CallingID Link Advisor.

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Eastern Seaboard Water Situation....

This is a Total USA Map showing drought ridden regions.










The Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Ohio and lower Missouri valleys: In general, another week of warm, dry weather dominated this part of the country. Isolated storms brought relief to a relative few areas, and none were enough to improve on the situation. Many locations continue to build up their year-to-date deficits in what is turning out to be one of the driest years on record in many locales. As a result, only expansion of drought is reflected on this week’s map, with D1-D4 expanding to the west, north and east. The areas of most notable expansion include Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina, with more subtle deterioration noted in Tennessee and Virginia. In North Carolina, the governor has issued a statewide ban on burning and has asked citizens there to stop non-essential water use as several communities have only a few months of water supply remaining. This is also the case in some locales in northern Georgia, where the governor has also pleaded with citizens to voluntarily find other ways to conserve water besides the usual outdoor watering restrictions in place.
This is all data maps pertaining to the drought in Virginia.





From Florida to Virginia, Alabama to Georgia. The situation is getting desperate for the water needed to be provided for the cities to function, farmers to raise crops and people to be able to drink water. The experts are saying that we will have to get a hurricane to break the cycle. They are hoping that the weather patterns will change this month and that the blocking “high” of the coast will break up and loosed its hold on this side of the USA.
In the Richmond Metroplex we have only had 1.11'' of rain in the last 58 days.

Here are a list of restrictions that we in the Virginia area are under:

Water restrictions, both mandatory and voluntary, are a little different from one locality to the next. Penalties also vary. Check with your city or county to be sure. But generally, here are the restrictions:

Decorative or landscape fountains — Water use is prohibited.

Paved areas — Washing is prohibited except for immediate health and safety requirements.

Swimming pools — Limit to filling and replenishing to maintain health and safety. All other uses are prohibited.

Vehicle washing — Noncommercial washing is limited to one day per week using only hoses with automatic shut-off nozzles. Commercial vehicle-washing businesses are permitted to operate under normal conditions.

Established landscaping and gardens — Watering is limited to three days per week by address. Addresses ending with an odd number may water only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Addresses ending with an even number and locations with no street number may water only on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Watering is prohibited on Mondays.

Watering with buckets of up to five gallons per day is permitted any time.

Vegetable gardens — Limit watering to any two days per week between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. Watering by bucket is unlimited.

New landscaping — All watering is permitted for the first 10 days after planting. Thereafter, the restriction for established landscaping and gardens shall apply.

Over seeding an existing lawn does not qualify as new landscaping.

Golf courses — Watering is restricted to Tuesday through Sunday between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Greens are exempted from this restriction.Businesses — Limit to essential use only

Restaurants — No restrictions.




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Thought for today...

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. -Charles Buxton:1823-1871

Monday, October 22, 2007

Sun behind...

@8.00am

Morning clouds...

@7.56am

This weekend...

We did a lot of biking. On Saturday we got in close to 12 miles. On Sunday we had 5 bikers in our group and we rode 7 miles. It was very nice weather all weekend! We have been lucky with not being rained out for a while. We still need a lot of rain and we are suposed to get some this week. More later.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Sun in Trees...


Sun in Trees..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

I took this on our morning ride today. We got in 7 miles on the Blue Trial.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Stop the 21st Century Gatekeepers

Dear Friend,

Verizon recently blocked text messages with political content -- raising very serious concerns about free speech over new communication technologies. Verizon claimed to have fixed this mistake, but they and other large phone companies still reserve the right to censor certain cell phone communications and cut off Internet users for "any reason or no reason."

Millions of Americans use cell phones and the Internet to connect to one another. The fundamental democratic principle of free speech is too precious to be left to the whims of the corporate gatekeepers that control these networks. Congress must take immediate action to protect free speech on our cell phones, over the Internet -- everywhere!

I strongly urge you to call for Congressional oversight hearings on cell phone censorship.

I thought you might be interested in the campaign to save
Internet freedom and protect free speech everywhere at
www.savetheinternet.com .

Unless we speak out to our members of Congress they could move
to allow large telephone and cable companies to control what you
do, where you go and what you watch online. To learn more,
visit: www.savetheinternet.com


Visit the URL below to check out what's at stake and send a loud
message directly to the Congress:
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/cell_freedom?rk=s1xhEsM1fH2GW

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Big Ass Garden Spider!

Sun Anyone?

I took this on the way home yesterday morning. You can see the sun behind the clouds. It never realy made it out. It was shot off of I95 south around 8.00am.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Call on Congress to Hold Hearings on Media Ownership

Dear Friend,

The FCC has been moving forward with a secret timeline to vote
on sweeping changes to media ownership rules. This is just the
most recent in a long series of outrageous moves the FCC has
made to avoid public scrutiny.

If you go to the URL below you can check out what is at stake
and send your own message directly to your elected officials.
Take action on this campaign at:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/fcc_oversight?rk=97xhEsM1ufSdW

What's at Stake
Big isn't always bad – unless you're talking about the companies that dominate our country's media.

A handful of companies control most of what we see, hear and read every day. They own our TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, cable channels, movie studios, music labels – even our favorite Internet sites.

Unchecked consolidation means that Big Media are getting even bigger, giving these firms more control over our news and information. Bottom line? Big Media are bad news – for all of us.

What's So Bad about Big Media?


Big Media fail local communities.

Big Media companies get a sweet deal from the government. They get to use the public airwaves – for free – to make billions in profits. In exchange for this government handout, broadcasters are supposed to serve the public by offering quality programs that meet the needs of local communities. Instead, Big Media companies gut local newsrooms and ignore local issues.


Big Media ignore diversity.

Big Media have limited ownership opportunities for women and people of color, pushing them off the public airwaves and stifling vital voices. Coverage of issues that matter to people of color, women, the middle and working class, and rural communities has disappeared. The result? Media that fail to represent our nation's diversity.


Big Media are bad for democracy.

Democracy can't exist without an informed public. We rely on unbiased news from independent sources to stay informed and to hold our government accountable. But media consolidation means fewer sources of news, opinion and information. Instead of hard-hitting critical journalism, Big Media give us a junk diet of celebrity gossip and sensationalism.


Going from Bad to Worse

The Federal Communications Commission is considering sweeping changes to media ownership rules that would allow media conglomerates to swallow up more local radio and television stations and newspapers. A single company could own the major daily newspaper, and as many as eight radio stations and three TV stations in a single city. That's too much media power in too few hands.


Don't Like It? Do Something.

If we want better media, we need better media policies. It's time to promote local ownership, amplify minority voices, support quality journalism, and bring local artists, voices and viewpoints to the airwaves. The only way to stop Big Media is by getting organized in our communities and demanding our leaders in Washington start listening to the public instead of the industry lobbyists. Use this Web site to learn more about the issues and find out how you can get involved.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Cooling tower.

Steam!

Another Tiger Army Pic


1013070030, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Here is another pic of the band...

Monday, October 15, 2007

Me

It is 12.40am I am very tired tonight. I slept from 9.30a to 4.45p but I guess it was not enough. I must have pushed it to hard last weekend and it has all caught up with me tonight. It is going to be a long shift!

195 north

this is so totally a shameless promotion...

Steve Niles author of the graphic novel 30 Days of Night, pin-up artist Susan Heidi and Kaitlin Olson who stars as Sweet Dee on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia from FX. Plus Dwight & Mia Albatross, Ms. Monster, pin-up model Kim Falcon, Irving Rat from the graphic novel Edgar Allan Poo by Dwight L. MacPherson and Thomas Boatwright, Zombie Custer, Billy Purgatory, a special Christmas message from Ihaveyourshit, words of wisdom and advice from the Blinky Elite and much, much more.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket



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Sunday, October 14, 2007

Bike Ride Today…

Mark and I went to Pocahontas Park and did the Lake View 1&2 trails. We parked at the Quala Lot. If you park there, it will add 2+ miles to the ride as Lake View Trails are on the other side of the park. We had a good ride and it totaled 12.01 miles today. On Friday, we did the Blue and Double Red Trail with a mileage of 7.01. So for the weekend I got in 19 miles! We are supposed to go back to Pocahontas next weekend and have a friend join us for the ride…

Laters…

Dc Metro Pics...

We started out trip to go to the Black Cat Club in West Falls Church and we took the Dc Metro to get to our end destination at U Street. We saw Tiger Army, Street Dogs and The Static Age.

The concert was very good and Street Dogs took the show. They had so much energy and stage presence. It was just incredible. The lead singer Mike McColgan was the original Dropkick Murphy's from Boston Massachusetts and we got to go and talk to him after the show. He was really down to earth and fun to chat with. The Street Dogs' drummer Joe Sirois was from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It was a really fun show and I am glad that i was able to go to it.















%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
L'Enfant Plaza





























%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo






























%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

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Saturday, October 13, 2007

Last Night DC concert.

I will give a full review tomorrow before I go to work about the show we saw and have a few neat pics of the DC Metro system.

 

RMStringer

******************

"Seduction is thus a central, indeed in certain respects, the central idea, in political life.

It signifies a course of action deliberately designed by one or more interested

agents to undermine and replace some established loyalty."

Kenneth Minogue (November issue of The New Criterion)

 

Tiger Army

DC The Black Cat club

Friday, October 12, 2007

Street dogs from Boston

Kick Ass!

Mark on metro

Falls Church Metro station.

Way TO GO Nancy Pelosi!!!

It must be a great day to be Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a Demoncrat. The could not get the sufficient amount of votes and support to bring the boys home from Iraq, so what a better way to do it then to alienate one of the biggest partners in the war! The Turkish people are all mad as hell at the USA and protesting to their government.

WAY TO GO YOU IGNORANT WOMAN!!

Who really gives a big rats ass about a war that took place nearly 100 years ago in a country that was none of our concern. I mean genocide was thought to be bad for many years before that, Hitler tried to do it and was stopped. It was generaly recogonized that it was bad after him, but Israel did it many thousands of years before this little war took place in Turkey and we do not condemn them.

Armenian Genocide
"The Armenian Genocide (Armenian: Հայոց Ցեղասպանութիւն ("Hayoc' c'ejaspanut'iwn"), Turkish: Ermeni Soykırımı) — also known as the Armenian Holocaust, Great Calamity (Մեծ Եղեռն "Mec Ejer'n" ) or the Armenian Massacre — was the forcible deportation and massacreof hundreds of thousands to over 1.5 million Armenians during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire.

It is widely acknowledged to have been one of the first modern, systematic genocides, as many Western sources point to the sheer scale of the death toll as evidence for a systematic, organized plan to eliminate the Armenians. The event is also said to be the second-most studied case of genocide. To date twenty-two countries have officially recognized it as genocide. The government of the Republic of Turkey rejects the characterization of the events as genocide."

Their own government does not even recognize that this happened and all she did by trying to get the resolution passed was piss them off. They were a secret allies of Israel and they let nearly 75% of the supplies go through their country to the war in Iraq. I guess that she and the democrats got what they were looking for. Now they can say "Our troops do not have sufficient supplies to continue the war and then really need to be brought home. All she did was try to weaken a countries resolve and hurt a nation. This was a most childish show of power and i for one think that she should step down as speaker. This has been going on for the whole term of Bush and just now when they are no getting their way try to push it through congress? She need a good swift kick in the ass and put out of office. What a dumb bitch for doing this now...

I do not advocate the actions of Turkey, but i do not care. IT happened many years ago and most of the people that might have been in it are dead. Let bygones be bygones shall we? We need their support and pleasure do not let one stupid woman ruin the friendship of the Turkish peoples.


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Thursday, October 11, 2007

De De Do, Wubba Wubba Wubba...

The doldrums of Fall…

 

I am very tired today as my sleep was interrupted several times today. Not much going on here in my life. It is a stable routine here. I go to work get off go to bed around 9.30am and sleep till about 4.30pm.  In one respect I am home more with not having to start work till midnight. When the wife gets in from work around 6pm-ish, we go to the gym or at least try to every other day.  Tomorrow I am going to DC to a concert with Mark and perhaps on Sunday, we will ride at Buttermilk, but I will have to get some sleep for work that night. I was just dead on last Sunday Night/Monday Morning.  It killed me! Trying to get used to going to work at 12-midnight is very different from the 12.5 hour shifts that I used to work. You would think that an 8 hour shift would be a cakewalk but it gets difficult around the 5am to 7am range. I leave work at 7am and I have a 27 mile commute back to my house.  I have a shorter drive than before, but I work longer.  Fall is a strange time because there are no major holidays and you have several months until there is one.  You have Halloween, but that is not a “true” holiday unless you are a pagan.  Thanksgiving is the only real holiday in the Fall, then it is winter and Christmas is next unless you are like me and have your wife’s birthday in December, then your wedding anniversary the next week and then Christmas four days later.  December is a very busy month for me.  We will not be able to go home this Christmas because of work schedules. I do however have a trip to Texas in November for my brother’s wedding and I am looking forward to that. It will be in Austin Texas and I will be with my paternal family for that event. It will be nice to see them all. Well I guess that this is enough of me rambling on f rot he moment…

 

RMStringer

+++++++++++++++++++++++

"We are all geniuses when we dream"

- E.M. Cioran

 

Tiger Army...

TOMORROW…DC at the Black Cat Club…

 

RMStringer

#################

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Author Unknown

 

Reflective sunrise.

Taken inside looking out a window with a reflection of the ceeling on the glass.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Real Spiderman!!!

This is just AMAZING!! I have never seen anything like this ever. No ropes or safety equipment at all...



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DC in 2 days!!!!

Well folks, on Friday mark and I are off to go see Tiger Army!  I am very excited to see them and it should be a fun night up there.  We hope to be able to go ridding Friday before we drive up there. I need to go and workout tonight as I missed doing any activity yesterday but sleep and work.  It is strange that 8 hour shifts are kicking my butt at the moment. I guess that it was from the week that I was back on day shift. I have been on nights a total of 6.5-7 months and  looks like I will be on them for an extended period again. I am home more because my shift starts at 12am, midnight.  I guess that is why I am messed up at the moment. Well, more laters…

 

RMStringer

********************

"To open the eternal worlds, to

open the immortal eyes Of man

Inwards, into the worlds of thought, into Eternity". ITN

 

 

An Intimate Celestial Bond

If you want to Purchase any of my music(s), Please go to https://djrenigade.bandcamp.com/ 1st Track For The New Year! #DownTempo #RenigadeCi...


New Pledge of Allegiance!

Since the Pledge of Allegiance

and


The Lord's Prayer

are not allowed in most
public schools anymore

Because the word "God" is mentioned....

A kid in Arizona wrote the attached
NEW
School prayer.


I liked it.



Now I sit me down in school

Where praying is against the rule

For this great nation under God


Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,

It violates the Bill of Rights.


And anytime my head I bow

Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,

That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.


The law is specific, the law is precise.

Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall

Might offend someone with no faith at all.


In silence alone we must meditate,

God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,

And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.


They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.

To quote the Good Book makes me liable.


We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,

And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.


It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,

We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,

Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.


But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,

No word of God must reach this crowd.

!

It's scary here I must confess,

When chaos reigns the school's a mess.


So, Lord, this silent plea I make:

Should I be shot; My soul please take!

Amen

If you aren't ashamed to do this,

please pass this on.



Jesus said,

"If you are ashamed of me,


I will be ashamed of you before my Father."


Not ashamed. Pass this on

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DJ Renigade is the moniker of blogger, pro-photographer and self-taught DJ; Now, producing his own music using Cakewalk by Bandlab and a multitude of VSTi and Hardware Synths. Having been enmeshed in DJ-culture since his days as a high school drummer rocking out to classic club music, Varied musical influences include The KLF, Pink Floyd, Skinny Puppy, and Front 242, he mixes music as much for self-expression and keeping his mind sharp as he does because it’s simply etched into his soul…
#TreadwayStudios
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