Not a petty annoyance

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Found via The English Guy,

“Create an e-annoyance, go to jail”

Yep. Anonymous, otherwise unaccountable trolls may face federal jail time and fines. But, really, who needs the feds in the middle of this? After all, kicking trolls can be fun (if sometimes boring). And cyberstalking–which the law referenced is aimed at–is more than just being annoying… but the law singles out “annoying” behavior as a federal crime, now, punushable by fines and jail time. To be sure, it also strengthens actual anti-stalking provisions, but even there, is that really a federal issue?

Oh, well. It’s law now. *sigh* Might as well start using it as a club for playing Troll Golf.

FORE!

Semi-anonymously graffiti-sprayed at Basil’s and The Conservative Cat.

Well, I may actually watch 20/20 on Friday…

I can’t recall the last time I wasted an hour watching 20/20 (“Puff Ficto-Journalism for the Sheeple”), but this Friday, I may actually watch it, or at least tape it so I can skip the dull yappy-yappy airhead portions for something (possibly, we’ll see) a wee tad interesting by someone who’s not a complete idiot.

John Stossel is reportedly doing a segment asking “Are kids in the United States being cheated out of a quality education?”

I’m not holding my breath. While the broad strokes may actually have some validity, there’s no way Stossel’s going to have air time enough (assuming he has his data ducks in a row) to air the issue or make much of an answer to the question.

But he may at least have some information to offer, and he has a well-known POV and tendency to throw the Bullshit Flag.

May actually be worth watching. But probably not live.

Written on the blackboard (though scarcely 500 times–surely I’ve not been that bad?) at Committees of Correspondence, NIF and Jo’s Cafe’s Monday Specials.

UD: Is it a segment or the whole hour? Conflicting info. But an hour’s not enough to more than touch on the issue, anyway, but we’ll see. Comparing New Jersey students and Belgian students on a standardized test is just mean, though…

heh.

Update: In comments, Hugh weighs in with an observation I might quibble with in percentage breakdown only a small tad. A very wee tad, not substantive. And an observation concerning local SC state politics/education.


I agree that responsibility can be shared. The roughly approximate proportions are as follows: Parents: 60% (most probably more) * Administrators: 20% Legislators: 20% * Parents have the ability to vote. And, they can hold administrators feet to the fire. Alas, most parents are gutless wonders who REFUSE to take responsibility for their offspring. What I can vouch for is the statement(s) in the NewsMax item. What was written here about Gov. Sanford and SC is TRUE!

An Answer to Murtha “Dhimmi-crats”

Michelle Malkin made the following video available for download. She also includes this snippet, as well as a link to the full transcript of the Murtha/Moran townhall meeting designed to elicit anti-war (really, anti-Bush and anti-victory) thetoric last week.

“… I think it’s a disgrace when members of our Congress –just as they did in 1975 when they sold out the south Vietnamese–are selling out our soldiers today in Iraq!”

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And just in case you missed it, in an earlier post, Michelle Malkin also provided the following clip of Sgt. Mark Seavey speaking to Murtha and Moran. (She has more from Sgt. Mark Seavey at her blog, linked above.)

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Ten Good Ones… times 2

Boudicca picked up a non-meme-ish suggestion and passed it on in Top 10 Good People of 2005. Not necessarily “big names” but folks who’ve been a strong positive influence, personally or in wider society.

At least, that’s how I’m choosing to interpret this. 🙂 Bou’s post was a lil vague (she was still heavily medicated from her surgery), and GuyK’s post at Charming, Just Charming (whence Bou picked this up) is pretty open-ended.

So, maybe not ten. Maybe not the TOP ten. But quite a few.

Let me begin with my fav top ten bloggers who have had a positive influence on me this year. Keep in mind: I am NOT listing them in any order other than maybe alphabetically, ‘K? Having pared it down to only ten, I feel badly because another list just as long belongs with this one. So, as wrong as this list is, here are ten OF the top good folks who have positively influenced my life this last year:

Kris at Anywhere But Here
Christine of BTW and Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea
Bou (heal quickly!) at Boudicca’s Voice
My Blogmom, Carol Platt Liebau 🙂
Kathryn at Cathouse Chat
Diane of, well, Diane’s Stuff
Rich at The English Guy
Kat from Keep The Coffee Coming
TMH (secretive booger that he is) of TMH’s Bacon Bits
Woody of the eponymous Woody’s News & Views

Please keep in mind that I’ve left off many who have been just as good to me, had influence just as positive as the folks on this list, but I’m trying to keep this portion at ten. The rest of you who belong on this list also know you do, but you’re the kinda folks who will take it in the right spirit. Good on you one and all.

In “real life” I’d have to list my Wonder Woman, Lovely Daughter and Bubba at the top. No matter what (even when I’m not at my best or irked with one of them or whatever), they are the most positive influences in my life. Period. They KNOW the real curmudgeonly me, and still lend me their light.

I miss my neighbor. Yeh. The one neighbor, really. Always ready to help with anything. Nobody’s perfect, but he was a thoughtful, generous guy.

A couple of my siblings definitely qualify as strong influences for good-older sister and younger brother. Pretty constant contact with these two, and they are always uplifting. Heck, I’d have to say my youngest nephew has been a strong positive influence! (Just keeping up with his academic progress has thrown me back at some classics in my reading.) Great kid.

Guy at the local grocery who has fun playing my silly people/word games. Heck, the checkers there are neat, too. Aww… even the owner’s a really nice guy (though he’d not necessarily want ya to know it–likes to play curmudgeon. heh).

And two clients who have done medical transcription for years (you know who you are-and since you read this blog, I’ll let this be your “Have a great new year!” OK? :-). Thanks, ladies, for your continual positive outlook and influence on me. Oh, and thank the bread baker, too.

NOTE: this list is not exhaustive, either. Just a quick runback through a few contacts in the last lil bit who have been constant positive influences over the past year.

And that’s my of ten of the top Good People of 2005 for the “real world”-how about yours?

Is it still Christmas in Cambodia?/OP

I figure I’d better hold this post open for trackbacks in case anyone knows when Jean Fraud sKerry’s gonna get back from his Christmas in Cambodia… Maybe that’ll be around the time he finally keeps his word on such matters as, gosh, I dunno, releasing his records?

(BTW, I’ve actually got that release date. Inside information. 12th of Never.)

Meanwhile, If you don’t understand what a trackback is go here for a good explanation. If your blog software doesn’t generate trackbacks use this form or this one.

Short shrift again today. A few links up later. DO hit the “Treatment Time Open Trackbacks” over at The Uncooperative Blogger. Note other linkfests in my left sidebar, too, ‘K?

Cya at Choose Life! (Just wanted to link to a blog! with! an! exclamation! point! 🙂

UPDATE: The MaryHunter noted in comments that DL’s trackback from Teddy Lied, Mary Jo Died failed. A shame, really. Otherwise, how are y’all ever going to find the piece? Oh. OK. And TMH’s trackback of Realizing UN/NGO Tsunami Aid… Someday disappeared into the aether as well, apparently. And do note his commentary on the hubris of modern genetic tinkerers.

Still short shrift. Will update later… possibly.

Note

Very light posting today, and perhaps this week. Several “real world” things stacked up on me, for one thing, and then… tired of routers going south on me. *sigh* Going to be on/offline intermittantly this week as I assemble components and test different firewall/router setups using an old P-II as a testbed.possible appliance instead of just going out and buying yet another replacement quirky router-firewall that only does some of what I want…

But that’s just a lil lagniappe from life. It’ll be fun, but eat up some more of that time thing…

Oh. Well. Should have done this years ago.

The Gift

Trees and lights and bells and carols;
Bright-wrapped packages, piled high;
Winter’s sharp blow joins the heralds:
“Christmas-time is nigh!”

Mailmen hurry; shoppers scurry;
Time is fleeing – Oh! So fast!
Parties gather, loud and merry,
Grander than in Christmas’ past.

Pause a moment to remember
That a Savior’s simple birth
Still stirs angel wings in susur’ –
“Peace to men; good will on earth!”

Now the Father’s hands that molded
The first Adam in the clay,
Gently ’round a manger folded,
Cradle a Baby in the hay.

So the Greatest Gift extended,
Gift of love and peace to all,
“God’s great love to man descended”
Calls us to a manger stall.

©1990 David Needham

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Submitted to Adam’s Carnival of Christmas

This is a piece (already posted at Whistling in the Light) that I’ve used in several different ways over the years. I had planned a much more elaborate Christmas post—including a quasi-pod-cast-y sorta “report from the fields near Bethlehem” thing— but instead, I think I’ll take bits and pieces and post them throughout Advent, up through Christmas.

NOTE: bumped to Christmas Eve and updated with the Carnival of Christmas URL

*sigh* I didn’t want to give you this for Christmas…

…although those of y’all depending on Symantec security products (e.g. Norton Anti-Virus) might view this as my Christmas present to you. So, Merry Christmas, all tied up with a bow and all:

Using NAV? JUST STOP IT. Quick, download a different AV product! Grisoft’s free AVG Anti-Virus will do. Why?

“Symantec Confirms AV Library Flaw, Promises Patches”

Anti-virus vendor Symantec Corp. has publicly acknowledged that a high-risk buffer overflow vulnerability in its AntiVirus Library could lead to code execution attacks when RAR archive files are scanned.

A proof-of-concept example of Symantec’s products’ inability to catch bad code that can execute from within an RAR file is all that’s been shown, so far. But that’s enough. Just ONE example like that would be enough for me to switch (and it was, several years ago), and anyone using NAV ought to at least temporarily disable it, download another AV product and install it until Symantec can restore some semblance of confidence in its product.

You have been warned, If the Grinch steals your Christmas cos you didn’t heed the warning, at least I know I tried.

(Yes, I know that SO FAR no examples exploiting the Symantec virus scan flaw/vulnerability have been found in the wild. So? You wanna be the one to find one? 🙂

Red Lights Flashing at Is it Just Me?, NIF, TMH’s Bacon Bits, and Jo’s Cafe.