Redneck Smoke Detector [PIC]

As a redneck I really do not see the humor in this.... do you?

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Nothing says Merry Christmas like killing an unborn child...

From Fox News web site

A number of Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana and Illinois are offering gift certificates for their services this Christmas.

Officials say the vouchers enable people to give their loved ones "the gift of life" — that would help pay for annual checkups and birth control — but also can be used for abortions.

There is nothing that I can add to this...

Thank you to Jdimytai Damour

From Fox News web site:

Damour was asphyxiated last Friday while trying to shield a pregnant shopper from the throngs of bargain hunters pushing their way into the Valley Stream, N.Y., store.

His name may not be one that rolls of the tongue. He was the worker that was killed in the Wal-Mart stampede in New York.  At least I now know that his death was not in vain.  He was trying to protect a pregnant woman from the stampede.  A stampede that did not need to happen in the first place.

Nassau police said Wednesday that the conflict among shoppers who remained in their cars and those who waited in the cold weather fostered a "mob mentality" that led to the death last week of 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, according to the paper.

So, some stayed in cars and wanted to cut in line in front of those who stayed outdoors.  Who is right, who is wrong?  I do not  know.  I do know that people acted like animals.  It appears that evolution is wrong. We revert it seems, rather than evolve.

John 8:12“[The Validity of Jesus' Testimony] When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Apple and antivirus

From Network World

 

A support page on Apple's Web site recommending users purchase antivirus software for their Macs received a lot of attention over the past couple of days, but on Tuesday Apple removed the page from its Web site.

The Web page seemed to go against Apple's newest ad campaigns that suggested only the PC needs antivirus software. Even though the page has been removed, Apple did not telling customers to absolutely not protect themselves.

"Since no system can be 100% immune from every threat, running anti-virus software may offer additional protection," said Evans.

Got a co-worker on one job that says that Windows Machines get all the viruses and Macs do not.  Guess he drank to much Apple flavored Kool-Aid.  Facts are facts.  The Apple II was the first machine to ever get a computer virus.

Apple Virus 1, 2 and 3(From Claws and Paws web site)

The earliest case of a virus that succeeded "in the wild" goes back to late 1981, even before the work of Fred Cohen. In fairness, this does not appear to have been noted by many until long after the fact. For the benefit of those who do not delight in flame wars the author will not be identified: those who have followed the history of viri will know whom I refer to as Joe :-).

The idea was sparked by a speculation regarding "evolution" and "natural selection" in pirated copies of games at Texas A&M: the "reproduction" of preferred games and "extinction" of poor ones. This led to considerations of programs which reproduced on their own. (I see no reason to doubt the author's contention that there was no malice involved: this was, after all, the first case that we know of. Indeed, it was Joe's contention that a virus had to be relatively "benign" in order to survive.)

Apple II computer diskettes of that time, when formatted in the normal way, always contained the disk operating system. Joe attempted to find the minimum change that would make a version of the DOS that was viral, and then tried to find an "optimal" viral DOS. A group came up with version 1 of such a virus in early 1982, but quarantined it because of adverse effects. Version 2 seemed to have no negative impact, and was allowed to "spread" through the disks of group members.

Eventually security was relaxed too far and the virus escaped to the general Apple user population. It was only then that the negative impact of the virus was seen: the additional code length caused some programs, and one computer game in particular, to abort. A third version was written which made strenuous efforts to avoid the memory problems: parts of the coding involve bytes which are both data and opcode. Version 3 was subsequently found to have spread into disk populations previously felt to be uninfected, but no adverse reactions were ever reported.

(For those who have Apple DOS 3.3 disks, location B6E8 in memory, towards the end of track 0, sector 0 on disk, should be followed by eighteen zero bytes. If, instead, the text "(GEN xxxxxxx TAMU)" appears, the digits represented by the "x"s should be a generation counter for virus version 3.)

The story has an interesting postscript. In 1984, a malicious virus was found to be spreading through the schools where all this took place. Some disks appeared to have some immunity. These immune disks turned out to all be infected with version 3.

So you see, Windows machines may have more viruses but Apple users were the first ones.  Windows is more popular and will always have more for that reason.  Do not drink the Apple Kool-Aid.  It tastes terrible. 

 

John 6:35“Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Ads on tests add up for teacher - USATODAY.com

Tom Farber gives a lot of tests. He's a calculus teacher, after all.

So when administrators at Rancho Bernardo, his suburban San Diego high school, announced the district was cutting spending on supplies by nearly a third, Farber had a problem. At 3 cents a page, his tests would cost more than $500 a year. His copying budget: $316. But he wanted to give students enough practice for the big tests they'll face in the spring, such as the Advanced Placement exam.

"Tough times call for tough actions," he says. So he started selling ads on his test papers: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, $30 for a semester final.

Ads on tests add up for teacher - USATODAY.com

I know times are tough, but this just seems a little ridiculous to me. From the comments after the article, it seems the students do not mind.

What is next? Whiteboards with banner ads?

Customers injured in crush suing Wal-Mart - CNN.com

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two customers are suing Wal-Mart for negligence after being injured in a mad rush for post-Thanksgiving bargains that left one store employee dead, the men's attorney said Tuesday.

A temporary worker at this Wal-Mart was crushed to death when shoppers rushed into the store last week.A temporary worker at this Wal-Mart was crushed to death when shoppers rushed into the store last week.Temporary Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed to death as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a store on Long Island at 5 a.m. Friday.

Attorney Kenneth Mollins said Fritz Mesadieu and Jonathan Mesadieu were "literally carried from their position outside the store" and are now "suffering from pain in their neck and their back from being caught in that

Customers injured in crush suing Wal-Mart - CNN.com

Will the madness never end....  Sue your fellow bargin hunters, they are the ones that hurt you.  Or how about suing yourself for being so stupid that you are in a crowd of people that kill a man to get a bargain?

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Top 10 stupid gifts from chickens to toilet golf - Yahoo! News

Top 10 stupid gifts from chickens to toilet golf - Yahoo! News

Do not know what to get that special person on your list.  How about these two items from the top 10 list of stupid gifts.

How about a Barack Obama 'Yes We Can" opener? It was number 7 on the list.  My personal favorite though was:

2. Wealth Redistribution 2008 Holiday Ornament:

This tree ornament announces that the ornament that used to be there has been removed and given to someone who needs it more. The Redistribution Holiday Ornament will let everyone know you're spreading the wealth whether you want to or not.

Gonna be a great Christmas I can tell!

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Was this necessary?

A man is dead now because several someones had to have a great buy on a big screen TV!  Is this the spirit of Christmas?  It is a sad state of affairs that lead to this.  We as a human race need to be ashamed of ourselves.  We have sunk as a people to mass mob mentality.  I read people are trying to blame Wal-Mart for not providing the man training in crowd control.  While that is true, how about people being trained in how to be civil to each other.  This is not Wal-Mart's fault and if we try to put the blame on them it is wrong.  We all need to learn to take control of our own actions.  Any one of those people could have stopped to try and help that man, and all of them should have stopped.  This is crazy.

You know it must be Christmas time

As if the crazy stuff that happened on Black Friday was not enough to tell you it is Christmas, FOX News is telling the story of the cost of the 12 Days of Christmas.  This story comes out every year. 

That's this year's cost, according to the annual "Christmas Price Index" compiled by PNC Wealth Management, which tallies the single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, purchased repeatedly as the song suggests. The price is up $8,508 or 10.9 percent, from $78,100 last year.

Now for more serious news I guess.....

John 1:1-2, 14“[The Word Became Flesh] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Racing Season is over...

So it is time to go to Speedtv,con and vote for the Speed Performance Awards.  Like the man says, vote early and vote often.  Check out the 'Temper, Temper' and 'Best Finish categories for some great videos.

Gleaming still works - or does it?

From the Washington Post this interesting story with a Biblical theme

PLATTEVILLE, Colo. -- A farm couple got a huge surprise when they opened their fields to anyone who wanted to pick up free vegetables left over after the harvest -- 40,000 people showed up.

Joe and Chris Miller's fields were picked so clean Saturday that a second day of gleaning -- the ancient practice of picking up leftover food in farm fields -- was canceled Sunday. " 'Overwhelmed' is putting it mildly," Chris Miller said. "People obviously need food."

She said she expected 5,000 to 10,000 people to show up Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots and leeks. Instead, an estimated 11,000 vehicles snaked around cornfields and backed up more than two miles. About 30 acres of the 600-acre farm 37 miles north of Denver became a parking lot.

Miller said they opened the farm to the free public harvest after hearing reports of food being stolen from churches. It was meant as a thank-you for customers.

I am not sure if this is true Biblical gleaming.  11,000 cars hitting the place at once.  Would a true Biblical gleamer have a car in the first place.  I am not sure if the people here were wanting a handout or a hand.  If it was the first, shame on them, if it was the latter, we as a nation and our churches have failed deeply.

Colossians 3:17“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

MySpace Suicide case to go to the jury

I am of two minds about this case and no matter what happens it is not good.  In reality is not about suicide but about reading the rules and cyber-bullying. 

If you are not familiar with the case, simple, girl on MySpace gets a boyfriend on MySpace.  Only it is not a boy it is an ex-friends mom who wants to find out what the girl is saying about her mom (which was nothing).  In the end, mom wants to hurt the girl so she says the world would be better off without her. So she kills herself.  Law does not allow arrest on forcing a person to commit suicide, by its nature it is single person crime where the victim is also the murder.  So they arrest her on violating MySpace rules.

Mom's defense is really poor at best:

Drew has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and accessing computers without authorization.

The defense has asked for dismissal on grounds there was no proof that Drew ever read the MySpace terms of service that ban use of false identities and harassment.

So let me get this right.  She admits to using the system but not to reading the rules.  Maybe I can use this defense if I ever get a ticket.  I mean, the police cannot know that I saw a speed limit sign.  By its nature, if you use the service you agree to the rules.

I wonder what will happen. Time will tell.

A sign of the times in NASCAR

From NASCAR.COM

MIAMI -- Teresa Earnhardt and Chip Ganassi will combine their slumping race teams next season, an effort to stabilize their organizations in a tough economic time.

The combined team will be called Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the Nos. 1 and 42 and Aric Almirola will be behind the wheel of the No. 8. The driver of the No. 41 has not been named.

Both organizations have struggled to secure sponsorship this season, forcing the teams to pool resources.

 

Interesting that this would happen.  Chevy shop and a Dodge shop.  Will it be a sign of what is to come for the big 3 automakers?  They have not decided what cars to go with but it would appear to be Chevy's as Dodge has been less help then Chevy when it came to cars this year.

Be good for goodness sake!

From Fox News comes a story about Christmas and another group trying to get Christ out of Christmas (though they say that they are not).

The American Humanist Association is spending $40,000 to encourage people not to believe in God.  While I applaud the fact they are urging people to be good, I find it interesting that they want to solve a problem that should not be:

"We are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you," said Fred Edwords, spokesman for the humanist group. "Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion."

Ok, so the reason they feel left alone is that the holiday is religious.  Why should that bother them?  If there is no God then people are celebrating something that does not exist.  They have two choices.  Join the celebration of people they think are foolish for celebrating or ignore the holiday.  If they truly believe there is no God, they why should this holiday bother them?  Or is it that it does bother them and they have a nagging feeling that maybe there is a reason for the Christ in Christmas?

Colossians 1:9“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Study shows how spammers cash in

By hijacking a working spam network, US researchers have uncovered some of the economics of being a junk mailer.

The analysis suggests that such a tiny response rate means a big spam operation can turn over millions of pounds in profit every year.

It also suggests that spammers may be susceptible to attacks that make it more costly to send junk mail.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Study shows how spammers cash in

An interesting read. It seems that the rate of return on spam is really quite low.

The response rate for this campaign was less than 0.00001%. This is far below the average of 2.15% reported by legitimate direct mail organisations.

But even with that low percentage:

Scaling this up to the full Storm network the researchers estimate that the controllers of the vast system are netting about $7,000 (£4,430) a day or more than $2m (£1.28m) per year.

Clearly it pays to be a spamer or people would not do it. Now there is economic proof of it.

Long ago and far away, in a galaxy... well you get the idea

Enjoy

Saturday night live and Keith Olbermann

The really sad thing about this video is that he nailed the attitude of Olbermann to a T.  It is funny that NBC would to that to their news division's poster boy.  

The other side of the world

From the Make Use Of web site, a total but fun waste of time.  Find out what is on the other side of the world from where you are.  

Obama urges counting of military votes - USATODAY.com

Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign is encouraging state elections officials to ensure that all military personnel serving away from home are able to vote, after a Virginia law threatened to toss some absentee ballots aside.

Obama urges counting of military votes - USATODAY.com

Thanks Senator Obama.  In a campaign that has been crazy with ACORN rumors this is a sign that you care about it being a fair election.  You run the risk, with the military being more conservative as a whole, of loosing a few states.  You want it to be a fair election and that is good. 

Though I will most likely vote for McCain, you have gained respect in my eyes.

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Former Newsweek Reporter Admits Dreaming About Taking Out Giuliani - FOXNews.com Elections

Michael Hastings wrote in GQ magazine that he had a "recurring fantasy" that he could somehow stop the former New York City mayor in his tracks.

"I quickly realized Rudy was a maniac. I had a recurring fantasy in which I took him out during a press conference (it was nonlethal, just something that put him out of commission for a year or so), saving America from the horror of a President Giuliani. If that sounds like I had some trouble being 'objective,' I did. Objectivity is a fallacy," he said.

Hastings said he wasn't the only reporter who despised Giuliani, although he frequently tried to appear sympathetic to his campaign staff so he could get information from them.

Former Newsweek Reporter Admits Dreaming About Taking Out Giuliani - FOXNews.com Elections

Nice to know that we have an unbiased press out there.  Hey, I know both sides are represented here, but the press as a whole is a lot more liberal than conservative.  For every FOX News, there is a CNN, MSNBC, and who knows how many newspapers.

It is downright scary that this man was/is a reporter for a major magazine that is supposed to be unbiased in its reporting.

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