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Orwell

1984

…could require Internet providers and social-networking sites to record for a fixed time, perhaps one or two years, which IP address is assigned to which user. The other would be far broader, requiring companies to record data such as the identities of e-mail correspondents, logs of who sent and received instant messages (but not the content of those communications), and the addresses of Web pages visited.

Comcast announced that it will begin to retain logs that map IP addresses to user identities for 180 days, up from its current policy of 31 days. (The company stressed that it does not record information such as "Internet use or Web surfing habits.") [Source]

Let me ask you something. This is done under the guise of protecting children from child pornographers.

Barton said, adding that it was time to "protect our children against these despicable child predators that are on the loose right now in our land."

They are now adding that emotional word "terrorism" into play.

it would aid in terrorism investigations as well

Child porn and terrorism are words that get an emotional response from the public while simultaneously causing the public to shield their eyes because they would rather be ignorant than look at the problem. So my question is is there really a problem or are we being played to give up our liberties? There might a problem. I don’t know. But it could also be that we are spending billions and giving up the freedoms that founded our country for something negligible. Yes, even if one child is hurt it is not a negligible problem but if the numbers are small then our government’s response is not just inappropriate but manipulative in that they say they are doing one thing (attacking child porn) and doing another (intentially eroding our freedoms).

Just because someone yells fire in a theatre doesn’t mean we should blindly run from the building. Is there smoke? Are we sheep?

Child pornography existed long before the Internet. Our government is treating a symptom and not the problem which gives credence to a potential hidden agenda. Tracking the viewers of child porn does nothing to stop the photographer and distributor.

The Internet hype has made us afraid to take pictures of our children. I know I have failed to click the shutter because of it. We should be able to record their childhood without fear. Natural is not porn.

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Saturday – more boobs than normal seen at Victoria’s Secret!

Note: For those that haven’t had their morning coffee yet, the subject line is a double entendre.

I’m a man and I get very offended when people downtalk breastfeeding and particularly upset when they suggest that breastfeeding should be done in a bathroom. I think every person that suggests a baby eat in the bathroom should be forced to have their lunch on the toilet!

Rebecca Cook of Burlington said she tried to use a dressing room at the store [Victoria’s Secret Burlington, Wis], but when one wasn’t available, she prepared to breast-feed in the store. An employee said no, pointing her toward the mall’s restrooms.

Jessie Chandler of [Quincy,] Massachusetts entered a Victoria’s Secret store on June 22 to shop. Chandler asked if she could use the dressing room to nurse the baby and was directed to a bathroom outside the store instead.
[Source]

My wife was recented pictured in Pathways magazine along with a wonderful article of breastfeeding in public. Her picture shows how descreet breastfeeding can be, how important and nurturing, and how natural. Our society has to get over the hysteria surrounding breasts! Breastfeeding should never be assumed to be offensive. Breastfeeding should be admired and respected!

Cook said the store manager told her the employee probably thought the "sight of her breasts might offend a customer."

We need to pamper the offended less (those who are doing wrong) and commend the breastfeeders (those who are doing right). The more common public breastfeeding becomes, the more it will become "acceptable." Taboo is reserved for that which we keep hidden.

In response, the two moms have organized a national “Nurse-In” at the Victoria’s Secrets across the country, not to protest the business but to make people aware of women’s legal right to breast-feed in public.

It is very humorous that Victoria’s Secret would imply that breasts are offending.

"I find it especially absurd that Victoria’s Secret of all places is freaking out about exposed breasts, since it’s pretty much what they sell," Branco said.

Corporate of course has decided to put some spin on the incident.

At corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, spokesman Anthony Hebron of Limited Brands, which owns Victoria’s Secret, said the incident was an unfortunate mistake.

Breast-feeding in public is legal, he said, adding, “We have a long-standing policy which permits mothers to nurse in our stores. We regret that recently our policies weren’t adhered to, but that did prompt us to make sure to re-educate our associates and let the public know.”

The AAP recommends "Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child."

See also (call for nurse-in), also (discussion), also (abc news with opinion poll), also (Suntimes), also (rant/discussion), and ProMom (promoting breastfeeding awareness). [Primary Source].

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Debugging CSS

For folks working with CSS and Firefox, there is an outstanding tool called Aardvark. There is also a javascript bookmarklet that does something similar and can be used in any browser that supports javascript. Simply go to this page and drag the Bookmark this link for MODIv2 link to your bookmarks toolbar. When you want to use it, click the shortcut. (of course, you can skip going to the page and simply drag that link).

I still highly recommend Aardvark.

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Andy Warhol would love today’s Internet

The Mentos Guys have drawn so much attention to themselves with their reproduction of the dancing fountain at Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas that Letterman is having them on the show!

Fritz Grobe, 37, and Stephen Voltz, 48, were scheduled to appear on David Letterman’s show Thursday night and on the Today show Friday morning to demonstrate their explosive and entertaining chemistry experiments featuring candy and soda.

We love stuff like this at our house!

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Know more about your url

Troubleshooting a dns problem? Is your site not coming up? Want to be more standards compliant? Are you setup correctly with your webhost? Who is that anonymous commenter?

These questions can be answered with these three links: AboutURL, DNS Report, and DNS Stuff. Those last two have long been in my arsenal of tricks which have helped me quickly troubleshoot client issues.

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Ban Public School!

This morning I posted that schools, some of which have already eliminated arts and foriegn language programs, are now seeking to ban games like tag that promote physical activity on the basis that these games cause physical and mental trauma to children. Michael Silence highlights a ban on pizza parties and sweets brought to our attention by A Whiff of Smiff.

Let’s cut to the chase and ban school. It is easier to have a totalitarian government when people are poorly educated. (those bottom states voted red as noted by Latte Man)