PETA

The following story is from This is True dated 17 July 2005. It is Copyright 2005 Randy Cassingham, all rights reserved, and reprinted here with permission:

”Ethical” Defined

After more than 100 dead dogs were dumped in a trash dumpster over four weeks, police in Ahoskie, N.C., kept an eye on the trash receptacle behind a supermarket. Sure enough, a van drove up and officers watched the occupants throw in heavy plastic bags. They detained the two people in the van and found 18 dead dogs in plastic bags in the dumpster, including puppies; 13 more dead dogs were still in the van. Police say the van is registered to the headquarters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the two occupants, Andrew B. Cook, 24, and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, identified themselves as PETA employees. An autopsy performed on one of the dogs found it was healthy before it was killed. Police say PETA has been picking up the animals — alive — from North Carolina animal shelters, promising to find them good homes. Cook and Hinkle have been charged with 62 felony counts of animal cruelty. In response to the arrests PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said it’s against the group’s policy for employees to dump animals in the trash, but “that for some animals in North Carolina, there is no kinder option than euthanasia.” (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald) …Oops, my mistake: that’s “Playing God” Defined.

In his author’s notes section, Cassingham had more to say about this story:

The more I learn about PETA, the less I think of them. The story of them killing animals isn’t even unusual. According to PETA’s own filings, in 2004 PETA killed 86.3 percent of the animals entrusted to its care — a number that’s rising, not falling. Meanwhile, the SPCA in PETA’s home town (Norfolk, Va.) was able to find loving homes for 73 percent of the animals put in its care. A shortage of funds? Nope: last year PETA took in $29 million in tax-exempt donations. It simply has other priorities for the funds, like funding terrorism (yes, really). But don’t take my word for it: I got my figures from http://www.PETAkillsAnimals.com — and they have copies of PETA’s state and federal filings to back it up. The bottom line: if you donate money to PETA because you think they care for and about animals, you need to think some more. PETA literally yells and screams about how others “kill animals” but this is how they operate? Pathetic.

And you know what I wonder? PETA’s official count of animals they kill is 86.3 percent. But if they’re going around picking up animals, killing them while they drive around and not even giving them a chance to be adopted, and then destroying the evidence by dumping the bodies in the trash, are those deaths being reported? My guess: no. While 86.3 percent is awful, the actual number is probably much, much higher. How dare they lecture anyone about the “ethical” treatment of animals!

(This is True is a weekly column featuring weird-but-true news stories from around the world, and has been published since 1994. Click the link for info about free subscriptions.)

FREE CELLPHONE…….wallpaper

I made this a while ago(late Octoberish?), I like how it turned out.

So I thought I should share.

:]

Feautures Element Logo:

www.elementskateboards.com/

Resolution: 240x 320

Color representation:  sRGB

Made with: Adobe photoshope CS4 and Illustrater CS4 

Size: ~124kb

 

Cool, huh?

 

 

If you need this resized to a different resolution, I’d be happy to do so, just ask.

Happy holidays.

:]

Mario, DK, Link and some asian guy

http://uploads.ungrounded.net/465000/465005_NG_submission2.swf

Just stumbled on to this and thought it was pretty intresting.

New highly mysterious 01 phone! little is known.

Better than the iPhone, the 01 has been revealed.

The 01 phone(Click for larger picture)

“T3’s stumbled across your dream phone, and whilst little is known about it, let’s hope it will make it onto the production line. Apple, meet your iPhone killer.

On an unknown (until now) website titled just http://www.the01phone.com, lies a handset that will blow all others out of the water. With a 5.0-megapixel camera, 3G internet, and a whopping 32GB of storage, the 01 – as it’s believed to be called – could mean the death of the Nokia N96, the BlackBerry Bold and Samsung’s INNOV8 i850.

It looks as though the slide-out part of the handset actually conceals a laser keyboard, which projects a full qwerty onto the flat surface below. Play/pause, rewind and forward buttons suggest the 01 will be a multimedia stunner, with quality-looking in-ear headphones thrown in for good measure.

A full touch-screen obviously makes it resemble the iPhone, but by the looks of things, it has a forward-facing camera for video-calling, as opposed to the iPhone’s back-facing camera. We presume it has a second camera on the back, as with a 5.0-megapixel sensor, some serious photos could be taken with this handset.

As aforementioned, little else is known about this phone, whether it’s a concept, or an actual phone that a manufacturer is working on. Could it be the Nokia Tube, for example? Whatever it is, it has a countdown on the homepage, with 8 days left, so obviously all shall be revealed then.” – By Katherine Hannaford

Lets hope this isn’t a concept phone and actually starts mass production on said date.

Check out the website;

http://www.the01phone.com/

Internet freedom debate goes to washington!

The Internet as we know it is facing a serious threat. There’s a debate heating up in Washington, DC on something called “net neutrality” – and it’s a debate that’s so important Google is asking you to get involved. We’re asking you to take action to protect Internet freedom.

In the next few days, the House of Representatives is going to vote on a bill that would fundamentally alter the Internet. That bill, and one that may come up for a key vote in the Senate in the next few weeks, would give the big phone and cable companies the power to pick and choose what you will be able to see and do on the Internet.

Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build a two-tiered system and block the on-ramps for those who can’t pay.

Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight. Please call your representative (202-224-3121) and let your voice be heard.

Thanks for your time, your concern and your support.

Eric Schmidt”

http://www.google.it/help/netneutrality_letter.html

What is this about?

When we log onto the Internet, we take a lot for granted. We assume we’ll be able to access any Web site we want, whenever we want, at the fastest speed, whether it’s a corporate or mom-and-pop site. We assume that we can use any service we like — watching online video, listening to podcasts, sending instant messages — anytime we choose.

What makes all these assumptions possible is Network Neutrality.

What is Network Neutrality?

Network Neutrality — or “Net Neutrality” for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.

Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech online. It protects the consumer’s right to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network’s only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.

Learn more in Net Neutrality 101.

Who wants to get rid of Net Neutrality?

The nation’s largest telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won’t load at all.

They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video — while slowing down or blocking their competitors.

These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services — or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls — and leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road.

The big phone and cable companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to gut Net Neutrality, putting the future of the Internet at risk.

Is Net Neutrality a new regulation?

Absolutely not. Net Neutrality has been part of the Internet since its inception. Pioneers like Vinton Cerf and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, always intended the Internet to be a neutral network. And “non-discrimination” provisions like Net Neutrality have governed the nation’s communications networks since the 1930s.

But as a consequence of a 2005 decision by the Federal Communications Commission, Net Neutrality — the foundation of the free and open Internet — was put in jeopardy. Now cable and phone company lobbyists are pushing to block legislation that would reinstate Net Neutrality.

Writing Net Neutrality into law would preserve the freedoms we currently enjoy on the Internet. For all their talk about “deregulation,” the cable and telephone giants don’t want real competition. They want special rules written in their favor.

Isn’t the threat to Net Neutrality just hypothetical?

No. By far the most significant evidence regarding the network owners’ plans to discriminate is their stated intent to do so.

The CEOs of all the largest telecom companies have made clear their intent to build a tiered Internet with faster service for the select few companies willing or able to pay the exorbitant tolls. Network Neutrality advocates are not imagining a doomsday scenario. We are taking the telecom execs at their word.

So far, we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. But numerous examples show that without network neutrality requirements, Internet service providers will discriminate against content and competing services they don’t like. This type of censorship will become the norm unless we act now. Given the chance, these gatekeepers will consistently put their own interests before the public good.

The cable and telephone companies already dominate 98 percent of the broadband access market. And when the network owners start abusing their control of the pipes, there will be nowhere else for consumers to turn.

Isn’t this just a battle between giant corporations?

No. Our opponents would like to paint this debate as a clash of corporate titans. But the real story is the millions of everday people fighting for their Internet freedom.

Small business owners benefit from an Internet that allows them to compete directly — not one where they can’t afford the price of entry. Net Neutrality ensures that innovators can start small and dream big about being the next EBay or Google without facing insurmountable hurdles. Without Net Neutrality, startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web.

If Congress turns the Internet over to the telephone and cable giants, everyone who uses the Internet will be affected. Connecting to your office could take longer if you don’t purchase your carrier’s preferred applications. Sending family photos and videos could slow to a crawl. Web pages you always use for online banking, access to health care information, planning a trip, or communicating with friends and family could fall victim to pay-for-speed schemes.

Independent voices and political groups are especially vulnerable. Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips, silencing bloggers and amplifying the big media companies. Political organizing could be slowed by the handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups or candidates to pay a fee to join the “fast lane.”

What else are the phone and cable companies not telling the truth about?

AT&T and others have funded a massive misinformation campaign, filled with deceptive advertising and “Astroturf” groups like Hands Off the Internet and NetCompetition.org.

Learn how to tell apart the myths from the realities in our report, Network Neutrality: Fact vs. Fiction.

What’s at stake if we lose Net Neutrality?

The consequences of a world without Net Neutrality would be devastating. Innovation would be stifled, competition limited, and access to information restricted. Consumer choice and the free market would be sacrificed to the interests of a few corporate executives.

On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control — deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There’s no middleman. But without Net Neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.

The free and open Internet brings with it the revolutionary possibility that any Internet site could have the reach of a TV or radio station. The loss of Net Neutrality would end this unparalleled opportunity for freedom of expression.

The Internet has always been driven by innovation. Web sites and services succeeded or failed on their own merit. Without Net Neutrality, decisions now made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms. The choice we face now is whether we can choose the content and services we want, or whether the broadband barons will choose for us.

What’s happening in Congress?

The SavetheInternet.com Coalition applauds the recent introduction of the bipartisan “Internet Freedom Preservation Act 2008” (HR 5353). Introduced on Feb. 12, 2008 by Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), this landmark bill would protect Net Neutrality and spark a much-needed public conversation about the future of the Internet.

The new bill would enshrine Net Neutrality — the longstanding principle that Internet service providers cannot discriminate against Web sites or services based on their source, ownership or destination — into the Communications Act. It also requires the Federal Communications Commission to convene at least eight “broadband summits” to collect public input on policies to “promote openness, competition, innovation, and affordable, ubiquitous broadband service for all individuals in the United States.”

Big phone and cable companies like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner have been lobbying furiously to kill Net Neutrality. They want to exploit their gatekeeper power to decide what you can do on the Web.

But Markey and Pickering’s bill deals a blow to the gatekeepers by ensuring that the public — not phone or cable companies — control the fate of the Internet.

Contact Congress today. Tell your representative to support the “Internet Freedom Preservation Act 2008” (HR 5353) to make Net Neutrality the law of the land.

Who’s part of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition?

The SavetheInternet.com coalition is made up of hundreds of groups from across the political spectrum that are concerned about maintaining a free and open Internet. No corporation or political party funds our efforts. We simply agree to a statement of principles in support of Internet freedom.

The coalition is being coordinated by Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization focused on media reform and Internet policy issues. Please complete this brief survey if your group would like to join this broad, bipartisan effort to save the Internet.

Who else supports Net Neutrality?

The supporters of Net Neutrality include leading high-tech companies such as Amazon.com, Earthlink, EBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, Skype and Yahoo. Prominent national figures such as Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, every major Democratic presidential candidate, and FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have called for stronger Net Neutrality protections.

Editorial boards at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Seattle Times, St. Petersburg Times and Christian Science Monitor all have urged congress to save the Internet.

What can I do to help?

Sign the SavetheInternet.com petition.

Call your members of Congress today and demand that Net Neutrality be protected.

Encourage groups you’re part of to sign the “Internet Freedom Declaration of 2007”.

Show your support for Internet freedom on your Web site or blog.

Tell your friends about this crucial issue before it’s too late.

http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq

This was quite a debacle in the past few years but as of August 20th, 2008 this will not go through and the web will not be in control of the big companies.

A Milestone in the Fight for Internet Rights

[…]For years, the FCC declared that it would take action against any Internet service provider caught violating the online rights guaranteed by the agency. Today, the commission has delivered on that promise[…]

Skid Row, America’s first third world city

://

Part one – Intro

Part two – Kids

Part three – Drugs

Part four – God

Part five – afterwards

I watched all of these, then decided to write a blog post about them.

Then I realized it would be easier to just post links to the videos and let decide what you think about them.

It gets you involved and it’s less work for me!

Yes!

:]

But, in all seriousness, this is not good :[

10 Overused Songs in Television

I came across a list of 10 overused songs in telvision, and I have heard just about all of these multiple times.

I’ve heard alot if not all of these on Scrubs.

haha

Go ahead and take a look:

http://r3fresh.com/2008/08/08/10-overused-songs-in-television/

Vista security problem

Damn I have Vista.

“This week at the Black Hat Security Conference two security researchers will discuss their findings which could completely bring Windows Vista to its knees.

Mark Dowd of IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS) and Alexander Sotirov, of VMware Inc. have discovered a technique that can be used to bypass all memory protection safeguards that Microsoft built into Windows Vista. These new methods have been used to get around Vista’s Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and other protections by loading malicious content through an active web browser. The researchers were able to load whatever content they wanted into any location they wished on a user’s machine using a variety of scripting languages, such as Java, ActiveX and even .NET objects. This feat was achieved by taking advantage of the way that Internet Explorer (and other browsers) handle active scripting in the Operating System.

While this may seem like any standard security hole, other researchers say that the work is a major breakthrough and there is very little that Microsoft can do to fix the problems. These attacks work differently than other security exploits, as they aren’t based on any new Windows vulnerabilities, but instead take advantage of the way Microsoft chose to guard Vista’s fundamental architecture. According to Dino Dai Zovi, a popular security researcher, “the genius of this is that it’s completely reusable. They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That’s completely game over.”

According to Microsoft, many of the defenses added to Windows Vista (and Windows Server 2008 ) were added to stop all host-based attacks. For example, ASLR is meant to stop attackers from predicting key memory addresses by randomly moving a process’ stack, heap and libraries. While this technique is very useful against memory corruption attacks, it would be rendered useless against Dowd and Sotirov’s new method. “This stuff just takes a knife to a large part of the security mesh Microsoft built into Vista,” said Dai Zovi to SearchSecurity.com. “If you think about the fact that .NET loads DLLs into the browser itself and then Microsoft assumes they’re safe because they’re .NET objects, you see that Microsoft didn’t think about the idea that these could be used as stepping stones for other attacks. This is a real tour de force.”

I found this post at NeoWin

$66 dollars for 1 megabyte of data

Damn I’m paying 10 cents per text.

“Are you a fan of texting?  I certainly am.  There have been months when I blew through my texting plan, and got a nasty bill in the mail.  I was thinking about this today and It’s amazing how badly we are being ripped off by the phone companies for what amounts to just standard data.

Did you know that a full text message, including text and headers is only about 160 bytes?  That’s right.  BYTES,  not kilobytes, not megabytes.  Bytes.  And even if you have a texting plan for lets say 1000 messages for $10.00 a month,  you’re still paying 1 cent per text.  1 cent for 160 bytes.  In that sense, that doesn’t sound like much, I know.  It’s hard to get angry over 1 cent.  But in this time of high speed mobile internet, and $30 unlimited 3g data plans,  charging 1 cent for 160 bytes, is the internet equivalent of throwing you on a bed of hot coals and raping you.

Let me explain.

You’re average MP3 from iTunes or Zune, or wherever you get your music, is somewhere around 4 megabytes.  Thats 4,194,304 bytes.

So, if you were charged the same amount of money per byte to download your music,  guess how much that single mp3 would cost?

$262.14.   OVER TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS.  For a single song, downloaded once.

Hell, if you were charged that data rate,  guess how much it would cost you JUST to load the homepage of this site?

$32.00.  Just to go to ONE web site, ONE TIME.

Ridiculous isnt it?  And that is pricing based on having a texting plan.  Now granted, my math is off if you’re paying 10 cents per text,  or if you have an unlimited texting plan.   Also, you wouldn’t want to, nor be able to, transfer that much data over SMS, but the fact is, that since SMS messages are just standard data, there is absolutely no reason that Cellphone companies should charge you so much for so little data, especially in addition to an unlimited data plan.

The funny thing is, that people who would complain about tiered internet access, with 5GB per month caps, have no problem forking over the extra $10 per month for thier text plans.

This needs to stop, and it needs to stop now.  I would like to suggest sending a snail mail ( so that they actually read it ) letter to your mobile carrier, letting them know that you are fed up with the high prices for SMS data, and that a change needs to be made.  I’ll be sending mine to T-Mobile today.”- Justin Flood

I found this at

http://justinflood.com/

For this exact post go to:

http://justinflood.com/?p=300

R.I.P Light This City

For those of you unaware, the metal band Light This City is no longer a band.

:[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

Very sad.

They posted a blog on myspace explaining why; here it is :

“Hey Everyone,

I know this is extremely unexpected and disappointing to a lot you out there, but Laura and I have decided to end the band recently because of personal and practical reasons. While this may come as a shock to many, I hope I can shed some light on the reasons behind the decision.

First and foremost, the touring lifestyle and playing on stage every night, as well as making this band our entire lives and our profession had overtime become stale and anxiety-ridden for both of us, and in the end, not enjoyable anymore. We started this band because we loved playing this kind of music and loved the release that we got out of it, and the satisfaction we got from jamming with our friends, and taking it across the country. The fact that it had not been that way for a while was enough reason for us to hang it up and leave the band as 6 years of amazing memories and amazing accomplishments. There are other life goals that both her and I have that we felt would not be reached had we taken the band further, say for another 5 to 10 years, and we didn’t want to string our other band members along in something that our hearts weren’t in 100%. That’s just not who we are, and not how we ever wanted this band to be. Both Laura and I want to get back to the root of why we love playing and writing music, whether it be professionally or not, and not have this burden of feeling alienated from our friends and scene because of what the touring lifestyle does to bands. It is a feeling that we just couldn’t handle anymore, and didn’t want to deal with on any level, because at the end of the day, music IS our entire lives and we want to keep it that way. We wanted to keep it enjoyable as an amazing catharsis, which it was quickly becoming the opposite. With all of this, on top of the financial and logistical burdens we have come across in touring fulltime, we felt it was the right time to make this announcement. As disappointed as our friends and fans may feel, we hope you understand and respect the reasoning behind this decision, and can understand why we’d make it.

While many are confused at the timing of this decision, with the release of the new album and all, there is more explanation to be done. The new album will definitely be released within the next 4 months, and it is absolutely amazing! The most important thing to us right now is that all the fans we made be able to buy this album and enjoy it as a last ending high note of this band’s career, as we are sure you will love this album like we do. We all feel it is definitely the best Light This City record ever, and Brian, Jon and Ryan absolutely made it something spectacular. We will keep everyone updated on the release of the album, and there will be news about it within the coming weeks, as well as some new tracks online. As for as musical futures, everyone in the band is going to stay involved in music, and I am sure you will hear about everyone’s plans in the near future.

We want to personally thank everyone that has ever helped this band in furthering our career in any way, whether it be booking us, housing us, feeding us, or just supporting us and coming to the shows. All of our friends we have made know who they are, and know how much their love and support has meant to us. Everyone says this, but really, we couldn’t have done what we did without all of that support, and we love every one of you because of it. All of the friends we made and experiences shared have made this totally worthwhile, and we don’t regret a single part of it. Thanks to everyone, and we will keep you posted on the new album.”

–Ben (Drummer)

The original post of their blog can be found here:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4181433&blogID=405571580

They were a very talented metal band, if you haven’t heard their music I suggest looking up the song.

“The Unwelcome Savior”

Or better yet here is the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H4SVRApGhM

As stated above their new album will still be coming out and it is coming out sometime within the next 4 months.