Clint's blog

Pointlessness warning! I found an old file stating in way too much detail what my computer configuration was in 1998. Figured I’d post it here as a backup/old-school-computing memory, so that I could delete the file without a feeling of loss.  I’m gonna add some comments in red (11 yrs later!) to make fun of the past. (more…)

• VIDEOS: Command-line-generated music
  Nice music hacking! Changing music beats/sounds via the command-line. Command-line beat-boxing. Awesomeness.
  (tags: media video YouTube music command-line)
• POLICE STATE: If you're black, cops will gladly shoot you without asking questions. EVEN IF YOU ARE A COP YOURSELF.
  This says a lot about America, when even black *police* get shot by white cops who shoot first and ask questions later.

  I view this as a good development. If enough cops are killed by other cops, they might actually change their procedure. If they kill black civilians, nothing changes. If they kill black cops — investigations automatically arise.

  Dude was shot at 6 times, hitting him twice.

  The department does not interview officers involved in fatal shootings until a prosecutor determines whether criminal charges will be brought. Does that even make sense? So basically, New York cops can shoot and never be accountable, unless charges are filed. But without an interview, how will the circumstances that let a DA decide whether charges need to be filed come to light?

  This is not the first time this has happened in New York! It's actually the 3rd time in 3 yrs.

  (tags: politics AbuseOfAuthority police shootings murders deaths copOnCop violence excessiveForce brutality policeBrutality policeState NewYorkCity NewYork undercover NewYorkTimes news articles MiguelSantiago EastHarlem OmarJ.Edwards black white WhiteOnBlack racism HousingBureauImpactResponseTeam)
• CAPITLISM: Argentine Factory in the Hands of the Workers: FASINPAT a Step Closer to Permanent Worker Control
  Neat. Capitalists bought factories with World Bank loans, defaulted on the loans, and tried to fire all the workers. The workers physically occupied the factory, resisted multiple police eviction attempts, and have kept the factory open, giving people jobs where capitalism would have failed them.
  Amazing story. Apparently tons of Argentine factories are now controlled by workers without bosses.
  (tags: politics capitalism socialism workers factories Argentina ZanonCeramics FANSIFAT FactoryWithoutABoss production occupation legal layoffs EconomicCrisis economics WorldBank LuisZanon SACMY UpsidedownWorld news articles)
• OVERLY-HARSH PUNISHMENTS: Manga Collection Ruled "Child Pornography" By US Court – child hysteria
  Yes, our hysteria about child porn has reached the point where a man has gone to jail for possessing manga comics. NO CHILDREN ARE EXPLOITED when somebody draws something.

  What next — putting people in jail for imaginary murder? What if I draw a city getting nuked, should I go to jail for imaginary terrorism?

  This is pretty much thought crime. Virginia and Iowa are the 2 states that have taken this stance. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund funded this guy's defense, but then the idiot went and plead guilty.

  How can a DRAWING be a "minor"?

  He faces 15 years in prison — for having Japanese comics that American culture doesn't like.

  Part of freedom is allowing unpopular behavior. Nobody was actually hurt; nobody was actually exploited. This guy hasn't molested anybody, and didn't have any real child porn. Nor was his collection centered around these comics.

  Even if he IS fantasizing about children — thoughts are not, and should not, be illegal.

  (tags: politics WontSomebodyPleaseThinkOfTheChildren? childpornography ChildPorn drawings imaginary thoughtCrime policeState 1stAmendment FirstAmendment ChristopherHandley OverlyHarshPunishments comics manga Japanese Iowa PROTECTact MorphingLaw AshcroftV.FreeSpeechCoalition FreeSpeechCoalition FreeSpeech freedom speech SupremeCourt SCOTUS ComicBookLegalDefenseFund Virginia ridiculous porn news articles)
• PHOTOGRAPHER'S RIGHTS: Man given 3 years for photographing child in Schaumburg — charged with "unlawful restraint" despite never restraining child
  Yea, the guy is a creep. But a criminal? Three years in jail? Please!

  He had pornography on his person. That is not illegal. He did not have child pornography.

  He had "drawings depicting children" on his person… Not child pornography, or they would have said that. Hey, I've carried X-Men comics before. That's not illegal.

  He asked a boy to pose for a picture in an arcade. He didn't touch him. He didn't restrain him. But the boy said he felt like the guy had a gun or a knife. So because of some child's active imagination the guy goes to jail?

  This isn't his first time. But last I checked, we don't live in the fictional land of Minority Report. You have to actually commit a fucking crime before you can be incarcerated!

  "Asking someone to pose for a photo can't be considered detention," his lawyer said.
  I agree.

  (tags: politics WontSomebodyPleaseThinkOfTheChildren? MinorityReport precrime unlawfulRestraint children pictures Photographers'Rights TechnologyWar technology hardwarew cameras OverlyHarshPunishments DeKalb CortezLewis felony Schaumburg policeState DailyHerald news articles)
• RELIGION: CULTS: Scientology is a dangerous cult: Wikipedia Bans Church of Scientology
  "According to Wikipedia administrators, this marks the first time such a high-profile organization has been banished for allegedly pushing its own agenda on the 'free encyclopedia anyone can edit.'""

  You lose, Scions! Muahahhaa. Hail Xenu!

  (tags: politics religion cults Scientology bans banned Wikipedia Slashdot news article Xenu)
• BIG BROTHER: Homeland Security to scan fingerprints of travellers exiting the US
  Typically, when you imagine countries that put up barriers to people leaving — you imagine countries like North Korea, China, pre-unification East Germany, etc.

  Not for long. Now America wants to take fingerprints of everyone leaving — even american citizens.

  Being treated like criminals. But don't worry. We'll all get used to it.

  Maybe we should just put up a wall? Oh yeah, we're working on that too.

  (tags: politics TechnologyWar technology surveillance fingerprinting BigBrother privacy HomelandSecurity customs BorderPatrol TSA biometrics immigration BushAdministratoin ObamaAdmininstration leaving)
• UNDERLY-HARSH PUNISHMENTS: Cop Thomas Hutchins shots girlfriend in face, follows her to neighbor's house, shoots 12-year-old girl — You'd think that would be a murder charge, wouldn't you?
  Sure, he's going to jail for 20 years. But let's face it: This is attempted murder. This is not "reckless injury". When you shoot someone in the head or face, YOU ARE TRYING TO KILL THEM. I think this is the thin blue line at work. Cops rarely get the same sentence.

  Imagine if this had been a black man who shot a white woman and a white girl in the face. You can bet he'd be put away longer than 20 years. District Attorney Patrick Kenney should think about that.

  I don't care or know if the sentence would be the same; the fact that there was no attempted murder charge here sickens me.

  (tags: politics UnderlyHarshPunishments police shootings attemptedMurder recklessInjury endangeringSafetyThroughTheUseOfADangerousWeapon ThomasHutchens PetriaDent PatrickKenney)
• ISRAEL: US toughens Israel settlement stand – Gobama!
  Seriously, Israel. It wasn't right when the UN "gave" you a country that was already settled by existing Jews and Arabs. It wasn't right when you waged an illegal war in 1967 and took even more land — borders STILL NOT RECOGNIZED be international law. And it still isn't right when you bulldoze people's homes, build housing developments on private property (anybody builds an apartment in my back yard — I'm burning it down).

  Surprisingly, the Obama Administration has strengthened their stance. No settlements. Not some; none. No outposts. No "natural growth exceptions" (which is merely doublespeak for "we have more people so we should get to take more of your land").

  P.S. It wasn't right when we did it to the Native Americans, either. But at least we didn't wall them up with no resource and then bomb them when they fought us. Of course, their price for settling peacefully is the lowest life expectancy, economic status, and literary rates. OPPRESSING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IS NEVER OKAY.

  (tags: politics Israel Palestine Arabs Jews MiddleEast settlements ObamaAdministration HillaryClinton MahmoudAbbas BinyaminNetanyahu WestBank GazaStrip Gaza Al-Jazeera news articles BarackObama 1967)
• WAR ON DRUGS: Illinois Senate OKs Medical Marijuana
  Slowly but surely, medical marijuana is becoming something that exists in the majority of states in the country.
  (tags: politics WarOnDrugs drugs mariuana freedom medical medicalMarijuana Illinois legal legislation MPP news articles)
• ABUSE OF AUTHORITY: White Oklahoma cops pulls black ambulance driver over; puts EMT in chokehold while patient lingers – no arrests made – CAUGHT ON VIDEO
  It's a felony to fuck with an ambulance driver performing his duty. The cops wanted to arrest him, but the DA stopped them from doing so. The cops wont release their video either.

  This is a road rage incident combined with racism. A whole gang of white cops choking a black ambulance driver WITH A VICTIM IN THE AMBULANCE WAITING TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL.

  The cop was upset that the ambulance didn't yield for him?!?! What the fuck? Aren't they supposed to be on the same team?

  I'd be quite happy if the officers involved in this paid the ultimate price for their racist road-rage abuse of authority police brutality tax-dollar-wasting crimes. This is seroiusly fucked!

  Someone please give me the names of the officers. They deserve to be named.

  This isn't the first time cops have pulled over an ambulance driving to the hospital with a patient. This isn't the first time *THIS YEAR*.

  Why not give the police department a piece of your mind? I did: choffice@dps.state.ok.us

  (tags: politics AbuseOfAuthority policeBrutality police brutality roadRage ambulances ambulanceDrivers emergencies felonies racism choking drivers CaughtOnVideo Oklahoma FailureToYield paramedics medical legal freedom obstruction assaults policeState CarlosMiller news articles Okmulgee MauriceWhiteJr. KenyadaDavis PaulFranks PragueOklahoma OkfuskeeCounty)

20090528:
I dreamed I was in some sort of sporting event, which was a sled race. It was in a supermarket parking lot. During the summer. No, this doesn’t make sense. I managed to win by sledding all the way across the entire supermarket parking lot in about 2 seconds, beating everyone else. My “sled” was comprised of an 8×11 wooden clipboard, covered in clear plastic. No.. No sense here.

20090529:
I dreamed I was back at Virginia Tech again, in a dorm. No clue why. I didn’t have a roommate, and the room was perhps a bit smaller than those dorms really were. Brent (Mark’s brother, who was my roommate in college, and who’s getting married tomorrow) was in a room in my hallway. There were a lot of drugs around. We ate at the cafeteria, which was in the same building as our dorm rooms. My high school ex-girlfriend Tiffany D was there. I had a lot of disdain for her in the dream, as in real life. I never knew who did it, but in the dream, someone stole a joint from us.. and we think it was her. The food was pretty good. I went back to my dorm room and started to clean up/move in, but then the real life phone rang repeatedly and woke me up.

Normally I dream I’ve gone back to high school, pretending to be a senior when I really had graduated the previous year. My sister has that dream too. Not this time — this time it was college! (more…)