Reality Me

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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.

  • More women, pregnancy, babies, and skin

    Michael shows us Britney on Harper’s Bazaar cover.

  • 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].

  • 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.

  • 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!

  • Oh the horrors!

    I’ve run out of coffee.

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: It’s not working.
    Master: Change something.

  • 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.

  • Parenting a teenage daughter

    Step out of line and you wear this!

  • 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)

  • Work at home job opportunity!

    Now you too can be part of the US border patrol without ever leaving the comfort of your easy chair. Why yes! This excellent opportunity allows you to keep our country safe by using your home computer to spy on our borders and report when an illegal is crossing.

    The Texas governor announced his plans for streaming the border surveillance camera footage over the internet at a meeting of police officials on Thursday.
    …
    Web users who spot an apparently illegal crossing will be able to alert the authorities by telephoning a number free of charge. [Source]

    I see a completely new market for a previously distasteful Internet technology!

    LIVE-SHOT is a revolutionary concept. You can challenge yourself and compare your skills to other members with our on-line target shooting. We have developed a system where you can control a pan/tilt/zoom camera and a firearm to shoot at real targets in real time. [Source]

    What could go wrong?

  • 5 Steps to CSS Heaven

    I find CSS to be much fun. I like reading other people’s options of CSS techniques. PingMag lists 5 steps that I like.

    1. http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/05/18/5-steps-to-css-heaven/
    2. Separate the positioning properties from the typographic properties
    3. Isolate single properties that you are likely to reuse a lot
    4. Try out an online CSS compressor
    5. Learn to exploit the cascading nature of CSS

    I don’t necessarily agree completely or adhere to these steps but they are certainly worth reviewing. [Source]

  • Who needs Prozac! Tag! You’re it.

    I’ve been feeling increasingly depressed. Work stress and my general situation have just beaten me down. I have managed to keep the dizzy spells back but often it is just by luck that I’m not swirling away.

    Yesterday I got off my bum and ran. It wasn’t a terribly lengthy run but it was on hills and made me wheeze like the air had suddenly shut off. Then last night I took a break and had Sarah join me for The Knoxville Juggler’s Club meeting. We had a blast and I exercised hard.

    Today I feel great! The work is still there. Today’s schedule is nuts (that link won’t show it because we use 9 calendars to coordinate our family). I may have a career altering decision to make at lunch. And the wolves are still at door. But I truly feel less down!

    Schools have blunted our creative education with the elimination of arts and language skills.

    “We can no longer afford the arts,” yet recent studies have confirmed that public schools cannot afford to eliminate arts education because of the important contributions it makes in the cognitive development of the whole child. [Source]

    Were it not for the exceptional PTA at Rocky Hill, our elementary school would not be teaching foreign language at all. Now schools are looking ot reduce physical activity, like banning tag, on the premise that these activities are not safe. They are making a huge mistake.

    The principal said children playing tag suffered both physical and emotional injuries.

    Exercise works to prevent depression! (without side affects)

    …another treatment for depression – exercise therapy – that can be as effective as antidepressants and counselling. Several scientific studies have shown that a regular programme of exercise can help people recover from depression – lifting their mood, reducing anxiety and improving self-esteem and concentration. They have also found that taking regular exercise can help protect people against becoming depressed in the first place. [Source]

    A study of male graduates at Harvard found that the relative risk of depression over a 25-year period was 27 per cent lower for men who played three hours or more of sport a week. [Source]

    I think Franklin Elementary School Principal Pat Samarge has it wrong. Tag, even with its "abuses" develops our children physically and mentally. Without exercise, Samarge is contributing directly to physical problems and, as the studies have shown, Samarge is also contributing directly to the emotional abuse of depression! Of course, not playing tag doesn’t mean these children will become depressed nor does it imply that these children are being denied opportunities to exercise. It simply means that Samarge has taken away an opportunity, opened a door to potential lethargy, and eliminated a possible depression preventative.

    Yummy! I had pondered creating a site to review teachers from the parent and student point of view. I am happy that it has already been done!

    Side note, In case you missed "Schools Abolish Recess in favor of Sensitivity Training", click this to see the picture! "I’m OK! You’re OK! a horrible bigot."

  • Coding hurts

    This is the stuff that makes my eyes bleed:

    <FORM action="{$register_script_name}?{$smarty.server.QUERY_STRING}" method="POST" name="registerform"{if $js_enabled} onsubmit="javascript: if (check_zip_code(){if $default_fields.email.required eq 'Y'} && checkEmailAddress(document.registerform.email){/if}) return true; else return false;"{/if}>

  • If you write your representative, they sometimes write back!

    Kudos to efnet‘s #coldfusion‘s MacGeorge for writing his representative regarding net neutrality and bigger kudos to Tammy Baldwin for responding!

    I strongly support network neutrality, the guiding principle which
    ensures that the Internet remains open to all and guarantees
    everyone equal access. …
    …I am a cosponsor of the Network
    Neutrality Act, H.R. 5273    . This bill clearly defines U.S.
    telecommunication policy to include the preservation of the
    freedom to use broadband telecommunications networks, including
    the Internet, without interference from network operators.
    Specifically, it outlines responsibilities of network providers to
    ensure that the Internet remains open and available to everyone. …
    Sincerely,
    Tammy Baldwin
    Member of Congress

    Good stuff! Her letter also mentions that it is better to send email than physical letters.

    As a result of the anthrax incidents, all
    mail sent to Congress is first irradiated. This process causes
    significant delays. To ensure the fastest response, I encourage all
    constituents who have access to the internet to contact me through
    my website…

    Be politically active in your life. There is time for a simple phone call or email. Contact your representative frequently!

    See also Markey Amendment to COPE Act, Markey bill, and The Library of Congress.