1337hax0r.com

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/iGgpX)
I'm not a big Tarot person, but I have friends who are, and they all regularly say they draw this card for me (and apparently it is also the card of my sun sign): The Chariot. Since I find these things interesting, I looked it up and got the following interesting but useful story:

The Fool is close to completing what he set out to create long ago, back when the Magician revealed those tools to him. But enemies are now standing in his way, devious human enemies, bad circumstances, even confusion in his own mind. There's no more forward momentum; he feels he is fighting just to stay where he is. Walking along the shore, watching the waves come in, he puzzles over how to defeat these enemies and get things moving forward once again.

It is here that he comes across a charioteer, standing in his gold and silver chariot, his black and white steeds at rest. "You seem a victorious warrior," the Fool remarks. "Tell me, what is the best way to defeat an enemy?" The Charioteer nods out at the ocean. "Have you ever been swimming in the water and been trapped in that tide which pulls you out to sea? If you try to swim forward, head-on, you go nowhere. You swim forward, the tide pulls you back and, if you tire yourself out, you drown. The only way to win without sapping all your energy is to swim parallel to shore, and come in slowly, diagonally. So, too, when fighting in a chariot. You win by coming up alongside that which you wish to defeat." The warrior nods to his beasts. "Your steeds keep the wheels turning, but it is your control and direction that brings victory. Dark and light, they must be made to draw in harmony, under your guidance."

The Fool is impressed and inspired. He thinks he now knows how to win his own war. He thanks the warrior, but before he leaves, the warrior stays the Fool, "One thing more," he says, "no victory can be won unless you have unwavering confidence in your cause. And remember this above all, victory is not the end, it is the beginning."

I found this to be quite inspirational and very accurate for how I need to act to make progress on all of the projects I care about so much. So I thought I'd just share it with you.

1h.

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/UnS8b)
O'Reilly support it, Hollywood is against it? Has the world turned upside down?



1h

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/JnavF)
That was hell freezing over.



O'Reilly actually supporting an option which is public... I think I just saw a pig fly by my window.

1h

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/ya7vc)
As some of you may know, I've lost a very dear friend to me this week and I've been trying to sort through it somehow by myself for a few days. As my wife Trace will tell people, I'm not the most eloquent writer and so I probably won't bother writing a long eulogy about how much she meant to me and how badly it hurts to lose one of my best friends in this city. Especially with all the plans we had for the next two weeks and her birthday.

So, instead, I will share what a friend of mine shared with me many years back when my godmother passed away and I was dealing with that:

[caption id="attachment_1876" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The only way is up."][/caption]

The only way is up.

God bless you Leah, and may you find the peace that you so longingly searched for every day of your life with energy, vigour, love and happiness. Thank you for sharing so much of your last year with me and Trace. We were all truly blessed to be part of your life, and I will truly miss you.

And now, in my ever so hidden, but Catholic ways, I share a prayer for Leah with all those she touched in her life.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May she rest in peace.

Amen.

1h

ps. A good friend of mine, Brother Andre, has a site where you can light a candle as a sign of gratefulness for that which we've all been blessed with. Trace and I have lit one for Leah.

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/QxSvz)
Required viewing for any Democrats in the states wondering why their polls are crashing. Hint: It's not because you are so enthusiastically in support of a public option.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8IeZHZRwC4

1h

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/F6EfQ)
The following picture was taken at a Obama town hall meeting:

Now, if this was a cop, or even if this was just a person who was not expressing any thoughts of violence. This wouldn't be a problem. However, the sign he was carrying said otherwise:

As TPM says:

Late Update: Also important to note, the gun-toting protestor was holding a sign referencing the Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants." It's a well known quote from one of the archetypal founding fathers. And in itself it's part of the American heritage, something that echoes with Jefferson's always ambivalent and frequently dilettantish attitude toward political violence. But in the context of these townhall excesses and while carrying a firearm at a presidential event, it's quite a menacing statement, in as much as it is about the need to kill tyrants.

I'm worried things will continue to get worse as long as those who stoke these fires, and spread blatant and dangerous lies that scare the living pants off of people do not accept responsibility for any actions that occur due to their words. You do have a right to free speech, and I accept that, but you also have a responsibility to accept that if you tell a crazy with a gun that it may be a wise idea to take it to these town halls "in case things get out of hand," you are somewhat at fault should he do anything.

The whole matter right now in the states is spiralling out of hand, and I hope the majority of people who are sane and responsible stand up and stop this before someone snaps.

1h

h/t Dailykos math4barack

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/RIurT)
First thing, this is the 1000th post on 1337hax0r. whoo-hoo.

Secondly, I saw this conspiracy theory which Fox News is putting out, and it's just unbelievable. Glenn Beck has not only gone completely off the deep end, but tied two lead weights to his legs while doing so. I love a conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but these are so convoluted and crazy and it just hurts.

First, after 8 years of known government spying on Americans in the guise of protecting against "terrorism," he believes a conspiracy that visiting a website could allow the government to take over all documents on the computer. Amazingly, when he does it he doesn't actually show the message he claims was there. Regardless, the stupidity of believing that the government can miraculously copy all of your data instantaneously when you visit a website is just shocking. The fact that this is being shown as news on a "reputable" news network in the states to other people who don't understand the technology and will fall for the hype... is well.. stupid... but also scary.



This other one by Glenn Beck is incredible in it's convolutedness. I'm almost expecting Glenn Beck to claim that Obama shot JFK or that he faked the moon landing. I think Fox News has completely given up on being a news network and has turned into a really bad 24/7 episode of X-Files. Fox Mulder would be a great host.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80zzW6Osyhs

If you believe that it's just Glenn Beck pushing this conspiracy tripe, clearly you haven't seen the Birthers, and the "Deathers." Maddow discusses this phenomena.



1h

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/bDxvS)
or they are openly lying.



How come anyone takes these guys seriously anymore?

1h

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/PtGYc)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u8n3pZBd5A

I am somewhat shocked that Layton was the only leader I've seen defending our system of healthcare. Where are Iggy or Harper and why aren't they standing up for Canada and our healthcare system against this slander?

KJR

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/QFhkV)
Welp, the Young Republicans down in the States went ahead and elected this not-quite-young Ann Coulter wannabe (Audra Shay) as their new chairman.  Her lack of spelling ability goes almost as well-documented as her vicious and bigoted hatemongering.  Said vitriol isn't even reserved for non-white non-Republicans.  To win her very own contest, she embarked on a brutal smear campaign against the moderate and actually-young Republican who ran against her.

In this age of 60 Democratic Senate seats (and faint partisan cawing from the other side of the aisle), a Democratic president, the epic downfalls of Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford, and Michael Steele's generic (and frequent) missteps, even a bleeding-heart liberal like myself is inclined to look for the silver lining for the Republicans.  This is to say, was the Dubya disaster merely a lapse in partisan judgement? or evidence of true systemic failure?

I guess we know the answer now.

In a party struggling for relevance, leaders such as Miss Hoff (the moderate, non-crazy one) are absolutely vital.  Without recasting their party in a brand new, positive, progressive light, the Republicans lie in utter ruin.  Shay's election does not scare me as a liberal, because she poses no threat.  If even Ann Coulter's myriad bestsellers haven't lead to the American Aryan uprising, Shay will remain similarly impotent.  It's more that Shay's election saddens me.  Without a viable opposition, what will happen to the Democratic Party and their politics?  With such a fractured Republican Party, how long will it take the moderates to splinter off and build themselves into credible contenders?

The death of the GOP is a cause celebre indeed, but at what cost?

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/KUV8F)
Unless my computer is about to explode into my face in a shower of sparks and shrapnel or all of my data is about to be deleted so rapidly that I won't be able to stop it even if I wanted to, DO NOT JUMP TO THE FRONT OF THE SCREEN. Why? Well, for one, if I'm typing a password and my chat client pops up to the front of the screen while I'm typing, suddenly my buddy (and anyone on the line) has my password. What can be really annoying is when you are chatting with more than one person and have windows popping back and forth so you cannot actually type an entire message without having to switch back and forth between windows. (Pidgin is particularly evil with this one.) However, this is benign compared to some of the dialog boxes which take over the input and jump to the front unnecessarily.

The absolute worst is a dialogue box that jumps right to the front just as you hit enter while typing in a blog post. Now you are completely FUBAR. Not only did I just agree (disagree?) with a dialogue that I have no idea what it said, but I've actually had these dialogues involve such serious activities as "I'm about to restart your computer, are you okay with that." So I have to rush to either stop it, or save my data before my computer restarts. (There are a lot of installers that do this, and to be honest, it is the absolute worst thing they could possibly do.)

No matter how important you think your program is, there is never a good reason for it to take over the input and jump to the front of the queue. Flash me one, if you are using Mac OS use Growl to give me a notice, but don't, for the love of God, jump to the front and take over the input.

That is, of course, unless it is to warn me of a Star Trek-esque shower of sparks about to come from my screen.

1h

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/gUF85)
I understand this may have been simply a honest mistake, but don't Harper's handlers advise him on this. This is not just a simple oops, this is a major error and insult any practicing Catholic.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTH9b6YJ6mc

You _DO NOT_ under any circumstances do what Harper did to the host at a Catholic mass. If he is a protestant and doesn't follow the faith, he shouldn't have accepted the host in the first place. It's posted on the first page of every missal and I'm fairly certain the priest would have said something of the sort before mass began that day. To me, this is unbelievable behaviour and I hope his office promptly apologizes to the church and all Catholics for this grave mistake.

I understand fully that it's an honest mistake, but still... You'd think his handlers would have at very least warned him about something so incredibly sacrilegious. It'd be like walking into a Synagogue eating a giant leg of pork or serving beef at a Hindu BBQ.

1h

h/t Huffingtonpost

[Blog] Harper needs to fire his handlers.: http://ping.fm/oXPNF

[Blog] Stop being racist, bell curve: http://ping.fm/gfdMy

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/lb9QM)
In 1994, The Bell Curve (link: http://ping.fm/Eq8OM ) was a sensation. It invigorated many and enraged many more with claims that IQ is tied to race. Notably, blacks are dumber than whites are dumber than Asians.

Of course, it's not true. It's just hard to argue against something so absurd. Luckily, there have been recent studies (link: http://ping.fm/YopPr ) with controls that point to why The Bell Curve posted the results it did.

Quote: Claude Steele found that he could create or eliminate a racial testing gap simply by convincing students that the test was (gap) or was not (no gap) a test of intelligence.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that these issues of intelligence and poverty are rooted in America's broken educational system, and not in some fundamental discrepacy between the races. I am hopeful that in our time we will move away from such harmful prejudices and towards solutions that will break the cycles of destitution and self-loathing that have made the election of Barack Obama so unfortunately incredible.

[Blog] Stop being racist, bell curve: http://ping.fm/H85yi

[Blog] Happy Canada Day: http://ping.fm/jd1L9

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/6beBo)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auQJVhNH99c

Treason is specifically waging war against one's own country or providing aid and comfort. While this person isn't actively doing either, they (and their cohorts) should definitely be closely watched if they honestly believe the words they just said:

At :24 seconds into this video

Scheuer:     "The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States. "

If someone believes that the only chance he has is for a major weapon to be detonated against his own country, then that would imply given the chance they would actively support such an endeavour. If they wouldn't actively support such an endeavour, then they don't actually believe that it is the "only chance." In which case, they shouldn't be saying such things on national television and encouraging those who would actively harm their own neighbours in order to "save their country."

Technically this is not treason as he is not actively attacking his own country, this would be more closely labelled sedition. However, sedition laws have shown in the past to be horribly abused by those in power and thus do not exist in any real form in the US.

Regardless, to openly state that you hope for a major attack on your neighbours (which will kill them) in order to "save" your country because you disagree ideologically with the democratically elected leaders of your own country... Well... That's just insane. To do so on a national television network and have the host not question the premise but instead dejectedly comment that it's likely not to happen sadly... That's just dangerous.

1h

h/t GOGB @ Dailykos.

[Blog] Not necessarily treason, but darned close.: http://ping.fm/CvKhb

[Blog] Not necessarily treason, but darned close.: http://ping.fm/7aBTj