Claire's blog

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060629/NEWS01/106290121

Okay, I don’t even know where to begin.

I’m too busy to write a real “article”. Just read the above link and sit back and wonder what has become of America.

So let me get this straight — technology can be used against us – a camera at every red light, a tap on every phone, RFID chips on anything and everything, camera blockers to stop you from taking pictures of abuse, etc. etc.

But we can’t have video cameras in our own home?!?!?!?
What the fuck?

What the fuck?

What the fuck?

What the fuck?

What the fuck?

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060629/NEWS01/106290121

I’m too busy to say much more about this, other than that I am totally freakin’ appaled.

We are living in a police state.  They can put cameras anywhere they want.  You cannot.  Technology can be used to oppress, but it cannot be used for the people.

Get used to it.

So, Katrina looters get 15 years in prison for looting 27 bottles of liquor and wine, six cases of beer, and one case of wine coolers. Now assuming this is good, $30/bottle tequilla, multiplied by 27, = $810, and 6 cases of beer at $10/each = $60, and the wine coolers = $20, we are talking about $890 worth of items.

That’s bad. But 15 years for 3 people? That’s 45 total years of incarceration. At an approximate cost of $30,000/yr, this means us taxpayers will have to pay $1,350,000 to “send a message setting an example”.

We call the Saudis barbaric for cutting the hands off of thieves. I am against the practice. But one has to wonder: Are we really any better? That $1,350,000 of taxpayer money could go to save lives. The damage done by taking away $1,350,000 from lifesaving services could very well be much greater than the damage of having 3 people’s hands cut off.

While I am against the Saudi practice, the American way is arguably much worse for humanity as a whole. It’s also spending 1516 times more money punishing them than how much they stole. That is, $1,350,00 dividied by $890 is 1516.

Isn’t justice grand?

Isn’t it good that our society is doing such a good job protecting us?

(Not that they were anywhere to be found during Katrina.)

This is so harsh that I must classify this as an abuse of authority. Stealing beer when society has completely crumbled is not worth spending 1516 times the cost of the crime on imprisoning them. Is it any wonder that the national debt is $120,000 per family? Why, 11 more families just inherited a $120,000 debt to pay for 3 thieves stealing beer.

People: These emotional responses to problems need to stop. Everyone needs to take a step back and take an impartial look at our justice system; it is an abject failure.

I need emergency roofing service. Now.

Well, I would say the corpse smell is still lingering. Maybe we need to close up the floorboards, now that the smell is only 5% of what it once was. My friend Greg Z stopped by, and I asked him to take an objective smell of the place when he walked into the door; but he didn’t smell anything. Of course, we had just burned a candle so that probably helped.

I’ve been sleeping on the couch to try to fix my back — for about 2 weeks now. But last night, I slept 10 hours (I usually sleep no more than 5.5). And the couch killed my back. I have not had a good back any day out of the last 6 weeks. I’m really not used to this crap.

But anyway, during my long 10-hour sleep, I had some crazy dreams. As did Carolyn, who apparantly dreamed that our friend Angel (link to her blog in sidebar) vomited on her.

So in my dream, there was a nuclear war. (more…)

"The Georgia Institute of Technology has completed a prototype device that cab block digital cameras. The system looks for the shape & reflectivity of a digital camera, saturating it with a beam of white light. They are expected to be used to protect areas such as government buildings, trade shows, and defeating video copying in theaters. The countermeasure: film."

Remember: Technology is an efficient enabler, but an even more efficient oppressor.

Think about Rodney King? The man had unnecessary force used against him in an extremely obvious way. Of course, all the officers involved still basically got away with it, and the L.A. Riots were completely justified. (None of the 2,000 people that were injured, or 40 people who were killed were justified.  But large scale civil unrest and general property damage was.  The system failed and there was no other recourse.  They moved the trial to an affluent town, and had a trial that was all white except for 1 Latino and 1 Asian.)

But think about police abuse, and the abuse of the state in general. Think about Tiananmen Square in China. Think about Guantanimo, and especially think about Abu Ghraib.

Do you think we would even know about such abuses, if CameraBusting technology was ubiquitous? Hell no. Just like most of China's citizens do not know about Tiananmen Square, most Americans would not know about Rodney King. Nobody would know about Abu Ghraib. (Which I admit I can't spell.)  Inverse surveillance may become impossible.

Technology is good. The advent of digital cameras, camera phones, camcorders, and all that jazz are a "check & balance", by the people, against their government. We are living in a rare time in which we have tools that can actually be used to "fight the power", and "catch corruption in the act".

It wont be long before this rare opportunity is over.  Once they perfect this type of technology, good luck capturing abuse.  Good luck knowing what is really happening.  We are being presented with a rare opportunity to change society, and that opportunity will soon be gone.

Imagine the police being able to beat anyone in broad daylight, knowing that it would be impossible to be filmed. Far-fetched? Only if you lack imagination. Technology is moving at what seems like an exponential rate, and I fear things are only going to get worse. 

I've personally been assaulted by an officer (strict legal definition: I was forcefully pushed away from a scene I was a witness to; I absolutely had business being there), have had a friend (age 16 at the time) had his head slammed repeatedly into a closed police car door while they shout "get in the car" (kinda impossible if the door isn't open), have had a gun pointed at my head for trying to ask directions, have had an officer give me a ticket for something he knows I didn't do, and have had a friend lose his car due to police testilying in court.

Were the Cyberpunk visionaries really that far off?

P.S. I've added this to my 'censorship' category because this is a form of censoring dissenting voices by depriving them of the evidence they need to support what they need to say.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/people/furiousgeorge81/

So, it has now come out that the government is doing more than domestic wiretapping.  They spent *30 million* taxpayer dollars buying phone records from private data brokers.

Is this, too, part of "The Technology War" (my series of articles), where new technologies that are supposed to enrich our lives are instead used to oppress us?

The Associated Press story is HERE.

It is important to note that all of this is done without warrants or subpoenas.

We are all suspects, I mean "persons of interest". 

(Sorry, I forgot to use the new doublespeak, where "person of interest" is different than "suspect", "enemy combatant" is different than "prisoner of war", and "white phosphorous" is different than "napalm", and "rogue nation" only applies to when Iraq ignores the U.N., not to when the U.S. ignores the U.N.  But I'm getting off topic so I'll stop.)

So, our dishwasher roof built by Virginia Design Builders flooded yesterday.  (more…)

…Or were they just an excuse to deploy cameras? Here in Virginia, I heard that red light cameras stopped being used for tickets. On a specific date (and I've been running reds — in situations I deem to be safe — ever since).

NY Times article. It would be nice if this one were adjusted for population growth. An interesting editorial with some facts. Ohio accidents increase? Virginia increase?

The Virginia one uses my county:

[Editor's note: only Fairfax County data reflects the most rigorous analysis. Other cities did not provide volume, yellow time, and data on other key factors.]

• The cameras are correlated with an increase in total crashes of 8% to 17%.

• The cameras are correlated with an increase in rear-end crashes related to the presence of a red light; the increase ranges between 50% and 71%.

• The cameras are correlated with a decrease in crashes attributable to red light running, and the decrease is between 24% and 33%.




• The cameras are correlated with a decrease in injury crashes attributable to red light running, with the decrease being between 20% and 33%.




• The cameras are correlated with an increase in total injury crashes, with the increase being between 7% and 24%.

MOST IMPORTANTLY — IF YOU LIVE IN VIRGINIA, IGNORE THE TICKET:

The one surviving legal worry actually turns out to be a practical problem, generated by the interaction of the notice provisions in the enabling statute and the Commonwealth's other service requirements. Because the mere mailing of a ticket without personal service by a law enforcement officer does not constitute sufficient notice under the statute's own terms, successful enforcement may require personal in-hand service if the accused fails to either pay the penalty or come to court. Although the statute permits the jurisdiction to make the initial attempt to summon the accused to court via mail, if the person fails to respond, he or she is not considered to have been satisfactorily served with notice. However, personal service on all violators is obviously a very expensive proposition, involving many personnel hours, and would defeat one of the primary motivating factors for employing automated detection systems in the first place—a reduction in the number of officers required to enforce red light laws. Thus, unless a jurisdiction is willing to devote resources to implementing extensive in-hand service, citations mailed for red light camera violations become essentially unenforceable. The average citizen is probably not aware of this loophole, but if word were widely disseminated, such knowledge could completely undermine the effectiveness of red light camera programs, as citations issued to violators would lose their practical impact. Again, this is a practical, but not legal, challenge. 

Well, I'm here to undermine the effectiveness by mentioning this.  It's a moot point if all enforcement has truly stopped.  But if you do get a ticket — just say No.

Time for The State Of The My Union Computer address.

Just for giggles, I thought I would blog about the current state of my computer "Storm".

These are links to pictures. The pictuers have many mouseover notes that help illustrate the many various things I do with my computer.  It can also turn off my lights (but not currently due to a helper computer dying), and is how we watch all our television and listen to all our music.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/169886338/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/169885320/ – a few more
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/169885818/ – not as exciting. as if any of this is.

It's growing. Like the matrix. It shall envelope me utterly I fear.

Police launch eye-in-the-sky technology above Los Angeles

Pretty soon, if you're lucky, you can always have a watchful eye overhead.

Like Big Brother.

Like Sauron.

"This technology could be used to find missing children, search for lost hikers, or survey a fire zone," said Commander Sid Heal, head of the Technology Exploration Project of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Yes, and red light cameras could be used to stop people from running read lights, but I now know in hindsight that this was just a front to get people to accept surveillance at every traffic light. Virginia stopped using red light cameras for tickets alltogether this year, but the cameras still remain (and always will). I've seen this game before. It's for the children!

Considering that we're discussing the Los Angeles Police Department, I'd say the question about whether this technology will always be used virtuously answers itself…. (Rodney King, anyone? How about Rampart?)

Some tools are always tools of tyranny. 24 hour survellience of public spaces – despite the arguably utilitarian aspects – it antithetical to a free society. George Orwell had the foresight to realize this before it actually happened. He was a great man.

Police say that such privacy concerns are unwarranted because surveillance is already ubiquitous. "You shouldn't be worried about being spied on by your government," said Heal. "These days you can't go anywhere without a camera watching you whether you're in a grocery store or walking down the street."

I love the "it already sucks, so it should stay that way" argument. People use it constantly. "Every president has wiretapped, so it's not that bad." It's about scale, folks. A billion not-that-bads all added up is bad.

Here are the stats for the drone: STATS.
NOTE: I covered this topic earlier: https://clintjcl.wordpress.com/2006/03/30/more-bush-surveillance/

And just to foster some healthy paranoia:

Here's a company that would love for you to get 'chipped'.

And here's a link about the FEMA prison camps all over the country, including the specific location of camps in each state. (For Virginia: Ft. A.P. Hill (Fredericksburg) – Rex 84 / FEMA facility. Estimated capacity 45,000. Petersburg – Federal satellite prison camp, south of Richmond.) Now, I've read many articles about these camps before, and seen video of them. They are essentially empty, manned concentration camps. Of course, America would never put people in concentration camps, would they?

My cpu is running at 165 degrees (after 100% usage with a torture program)!

Maybe… I should invest in a better cooling fan.

Stephen Colbert interviews the weirdo who wants to display the 10 commandments in public:

http://gorillamask.net/colbert10c.shtml

(watch it, but the best part is, the idiot can't even name them!)

My friend Evan had a great spiel about this:

I havent watched that video, but that debate cracks me up.  Among the funniest things I've heard:

1) our society/system of laws/etc is based on the bible/10 commandments anyway, so they should be displayed publically

(Only two of the ten commandments are illegal, killing and stealing, and call me crazy, but I think that's just common sense that any society would make those activities illegal, regardless of whether a burning bush told them to do it, etc)

Honor thy father and mother?  Not a law.  Honor the sabbath?  Not a law.  Don't covet your neighbors wife?  Are you kidding me?  America was built on coveting what your neighbor has (yeah, I stole that idea from George Carlin.  Sue me).   Don't take the lord's name in vain?  That one is directly negated by one of the key bedrock principles of western democracy: free speech.  I could go on and on…but, clearly, our society is NOT based on the ten commandments (notwithstanding the fundamentalists who want all of us to live based on their peculiar religious principles…how are they any different from the mullahs in Iran, again?)

The other important point that is largely forgotten about is that each version of the bible (king james, etc) has a distinct variation of the ten commandments: thou shalt not kill vs thou shalt not murder, etc.  There are a few other differences I can't recall off the top of my head.  They're relatively minor, but they are significant, because they change the meaning of the commandments.  Under a "thou shalt not murder" version, any lawfully sanctioned killing is OK (so war, state sponsored executions are ok) but under the "thou shalt not kill" version, that is not the case. 

The important point is that by putting any one particular version of the commandments up on the wall, the government is *necessarily* endorsing a particular religious doctrine/viewpoint, which is expressly forbidden by the establishment clause of the first amendment.  Fundamentalists try to talk their way around this one by claiming that the commandments are general principles only, but, they're only present in Christianity and Judaism, which leaves out a lot of people. 

(end quote)

Thanks Evan!

Well.. I think I celebrated too early. The corpse smell still definitely plagues our house still; it’s just not as pronounced as it used to be.

If you sit on the floor and work on the computer for hours, like I did yesterday, you can still catch hints of it. But, all our windows and doors are closed, and it’s only a hint. Before, we had the windows and doors open, with a fan pointed outwards, and it was still unbearable. So, whatever it is: At least it’s decomposing.

Anyone know of any worms I can distribute to help speed up the process? I seriously almost got some worms from this woman on FreeCycle.

Anyway, the cpu upgrade is awesome! My motherboard was only rated for 1200mHz, but I am successfully running at 1700mHz now. The theoretical maximum is supposedly 2050mHz, but I didn’t pay attention to which core I was getting (the XP 2100+ processor can come with 3 or 4 different cores), so I didn’t get the optimal chip. Still, it was only $98, plus $15 for more Arctic Silver therma cpu compound. 

The motherboard manufacturers were smart enough to leave room for growth, and AMD is nice enough to not change the form factor of their newer CPUs (at least, not for awhile).

It’s really nice to take a computer I’ve been using for 5-6 years, and nearly double (189%) it’s speed with a simple (in theory) cpu upgrade.

The upgrade itself was painful. I had to google pictures of removing the heatsink, because I couldn’t get the thing off. Carolyn couldn’t find her thermal compound (um.. don’t put computer stuff upstairs), so I had to spend an hour and fifteen minutes cavorting around Rt 236 during rush hour, going to 3 places before someone actually knew where it was and could sell it to me. Of course Carolyn found hers later, but I didn’t want to wait and it’s a good thing, because I wasn’t really ready to use my computer to watch our night’s television until 9:30PM or so.

After she went to bed, I did some more tweaks until about 1:30AM. I finally got EvilLyrics to stop lagging — the problem was everytime a line of lyrics got written to the milk_msg.ini file that Winamp’s MilkDrop uses, the virus scanner scanned the file. So… disable (snooze) for best results.

And might I ad, my two favorite security programs are now:

Firewall: Sygate

AntiVirus: EZ AntiVirus

Sygate beats the pants off ZoneAlarm & Symantec Firewall. And EZ AntiVirus is much better than Symantec, in my opinion. Symantec slowly died on 5 different computers. Zone Alarm wont uninstall and can get corrupted by w32.licum/tenga virii. Fuck all that, I’d rather use something that continues to work.

Anyway, my computer Storm can now move files from the other computer, with the firewall on, only taking 90% cpu instead of 100%. This makes a big difference as 10% is enough to do other stuff, like review/watch videos. I’m happy. It was a hellish 6 hours or so, and I’ve still got stability tests to perform (I just typed testes…wtf), but as far as I’m concerned, I just dodged a bullet of having to spend $1,000 on a new computer, or $300-$400 on a painful motherboard upgrade which would require me to completley rebuild my computer from scratch. Score one for laziness & hardware mastery.

I’m done now.

So, camping went well this weekend.  We actually had 9 people, maybe a bit more than average.  There were 11 total, but Jesselanie (Jesse + Melanie) did not stay for the night.  Pictures of the trip are HERE.  (more…)

I’ve downloaded most of these on bittorrent (mininova) and already watched them…. and many, many more. However, I feel compelled to share a review of some of these videos, and a list of other videos. Most of these can probably be found on MiniNova, YouTube, or Google Video. I would encourage people to use MinoNova and BitTorrent so that they possess a copy on their own harddrive. External sources can always be censored and taken down. Get your own copy on your own computer.

Because so many people are visiting this posting everyday: I’ve added more titles (in no particular order) to the bottom [edit:8/9/2006]

[begin quote]

The most interesting thing about the Google Video top 100 has been Loose Change [get it on MiniNova HERE]. For weeks it has been the only full length film that isn’t short a very short titillation clip (eg Webcam Girls Go Wild) or dubious humour clips (eg funny clips baby fart) that has been in the top 20.

Loose Change is the most popular 9/11 “conspiracy theory” film, no doubt due to its slick graphics, soundtrack and editing — for an amateur movie it is impressive. However it’s not the most accurate movie of its type — see the discussion on indybay [indybay.org] and the detailed Sifting Through Loose Change The 9-11 Research Companion [wtc7.net].

Read on for a brief guide to some other 9/11 videos that deserve more attention…

9/11 Revisited: Were explosives used to bring down the buildings? (2006)

This is currently, probably, the best 9/11 video that challenges the official conspiracy theory.

9/11 Revisited concentrates on the collapse of the three World Trade Center buildings and includes news reports from the day and interviews with experts including Steven E Jones [wikipedia.org], David Ray Griffin [wikipedia.org] and Jeff King. It is available to view online [911revisited.com] and via Google Video [google.com] and the Internet Archive [archive.org].

9/11 Breaking the Laws of Physics (2006)

This is a lecture from 2006 by BYU Physics Professor Steven E Jones [wikipedia.org] on the collapse of the WTC buildings on 9/11. It is available from the Internet Archive [archive.org]. The academic paper this presentation is based on is Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse? [byu.edu].

The 9/11 Commission Report (2004)

This is a lecture by David Ray Griffin [wikipedia.org] — professor emeritus of philosophy of religion and theology, at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. He has written many books including The New Pearl Harbor [indymedia.org] and The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions [newpearlharbor.com] on the official 9/11 Report. This lecture is available from theInternet Archive [archive.org].

9-11 Open Your Eyes the War on Terror is a Lie (2004)

Filmed at the 9/11 International Inquiry (Toronto, May 2004) Open Your Eyes is available on the Internet Archive [archive.org].

Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime (2006)

This new film covers the links between the US adminstration, the Republician Party and drugs running and the 9/11 hijackers, it is available on Google Video [google.com] and there are higher quality versions on 911 blogger [911blogger.com], the official film site is http://www.crisisinamerica.org/ [crisisinamerica.org]

War and Globalization – The Truth Behind September 11 (2003)

Politically this is the best video on 9/11.

War and Globalization is a lecture, from 2003 by Michel Chossudovsky [wikipedia.org], a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa. Michel Chossudovsky is the founder of the Centre for Research on Globalization, the organisation behind Global Research [globalresearch.ca] an extensive website dedicated to exposing the true nature of globalisation. This video is a covers 9/11, oil and war, it is based on his book, America’s “War on Terrorism” [globalresearch.ca]. Despite being almost three years old it is especially pertinent today with the looming threat of war with Iran. Links to other texts by Michel Chossudovsky can be found on the Peoples’ Global Action web site [nadir.org].

This video is available on Google Video [google.com] and on DVD from Snowshoe Films [snowshoefilms.com].

[end quote]

Another anonymous coward added:

You forgot to mention “Martial Law 9/11: Rise of the Police State” http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-649546276 1605341661 [google.com]
Perhaps the most powerful 911 documentary to date.

And I want to add my own list of videos I’ve watched about The 9/11 Lie:

The Truth And Lies Of 911 (2h20m) (Updated 2004)

Michael Ruppert – Denial Stops Here (2h2m4s) (post-oil societal changes, sept 11th, etc)

911 – The Greatest Lie Ever Sold (Anthony J Hilder) (2004) (2h06m01s)

911 Eyewitness (1h44m40s)

Illlumi Nazi 911 (WWIII Bush Hitler Illuminati Enslavement) (2005)

lecture – War & Globalization – The Truth Behind September 11 (1hr56m)

The Great Conspiracy – The 911 Special You Never Saw (Barrie Zwicker) (1hr10s)

911 In Plane Sight (52m36s)

911 – The Plane That Fought Back (1hr14m)

911 – The Man Who Predicted 911 (History Channel) (44m19s) (2005)

911 – ABC Coverage On-911 — full 6 hrs of ABC live as it was happening

911 – The Great Illusion By George Humphrey (warning–spiritual) (1h52m20s)

911 – September 11th Revisited (best news clips–entire first half) (59m41s)

911 – September 11 – Evidence To The Contrary (REDUX) (2006) (1hr26m24s)

David Ray Griffin – 911 & The American Empire (20050418) (University Of Wisconsin)

David Ray Griffen – Truth & Politics – Unanswered Questions About 911 (20041003)

911 – End Game Of The Illuminati (George Humphrey) (2hrs) (warning–spiritual)

911 – David Shayler (MI5) (19m4s)

The Convenience Of 9-11 (21min) (Finnish)

911-WTC Demolition Analysis-What’s The Truth- How Indeed Did The Twin Towers Collapse (1h26m29s)

911 – Painful Deceptions (2hrs)

911 – whistleblower Richard Andrew Grove (2h5m)

911 Was Inside Job – interview with Egyptian General Muhammad Khalaf (subbed) (2005)

911 – Ryan – Q&A (15m10s) (mono).mp3

The Secret Evil Of 911 (19m45s).wmv

911 – The 757 And The Pentagon – CNN footage where THERE IS NO PLANE (1min).wmv – this is great because they have a CNN correspondent AT the Pentagon WHILE it was still on fire, saying that he sees no plane or anything resembling a plane anywhere. Oh it vaporized? Hate to tell you this, but engines of a 747 are 9 feet wide and made out of titanium. They are designed to have fuel constantly burning in them; they would not vaporize. Where were they?

There is also a “911 truth cd-rom” that attempts to cram as much as possible into the cd. There is a DVD-Rom version of that too.

Finally, try simply searching for ‘911’ on MiniNova.org, and arranging the results by order of seeds (more seeds = faster downloads, zero seeds = can’t download anymore):

http://www.mininova.org/search/911/seeds

Here’s what the video SHOULD have looked like:

Instead, here is what we got:

So, I'm on computer #2, and I paste something.

My computer #1 is VNC'ed (remote windows control) into both computer #2 and Carolyn's computer.  The weird thing was, what I pasted popped up on Carolyn's computer and messed up what she was doing.  But I'm on computer #2, which is not VNC'ed to hers.

What I pasted jumped from computer #2 into computer #1 and then into Carolyn's computer.  Pasting into a different computer is weird enough, but having your text make 2 hops before it pops out is goddamn strange. 

June 14, 2000: Bestselling author, cancer and AIDS patient, and high profile medical marijuana activist Peter McWilliams is found dead in his home in Los Angeles, California. McWilliams, barred by a federal court order from using marijuana to counteract the extreme nausea caused by his AIDS drugs, is found choked to death on vomit, slumped on his bathroom floor.

If you have a KT7-RAID motherboard, I’ve learned that the manual is not factually correct regarding maximum cpu speed. (more…)

After pulling a chest muscle 5 weeks ago — so that it hurts to sneeze, blow my nose, or sniff my nose (I could not do any of the 3 for about 5 days)…  I now have a messed up neck from our mattress-from-hell last night.  I don't know that the $40 special pillow I got is really helping.  We have a very firm queen mattress on a twin size waterbed frame.  Maybe we should just get a whole nother bed… again.  ARGHHH

 but this neck business is killing me

Thank you Steve for taking away our nice chairs at work. Fuck you.