Firefox and Performancing Revolutionize My Blogging!

Thanks to the brilliant minds at Frefox and those zany independent programmers constantly adding awesome extentions I can now post to my blog from anywhere on the web inside my browser. This makes it easier for me to post as many things as I want. Oh happy day!

SAVE THE INTERNET!

Dear MoveOn member,

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, MoveOn either pays protection money to dominant Internet providers or risks that online activism tools don't work for members. Amazon and Google either pay protection money or risk that their websites process slowly on your computer. That why these high-tech pioneers are joining the fight to protect Network Neutrality[1]--and you can do your part today.

The free and open Internet is under seige--can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/

Then, please forward this to 3 friends. Protecting the free and open Internet is fundamental--it affects everything. When you sign this petition, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress. Votes begin in a House committee next week.

MoveOn has already seen what happens when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Just last week, AOL blocked any email mentioning a coalition that MoveOn is a part of, which opposes AOL's proposed "email tax."[2] And last year, Canada's version of AT&T--Telus--blocked their Internet customers from visiting a website sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating.[3]

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T's CEO, who openly says, "The internet can't be free."[4]

Together, we can let Congress know we are paying attention. We can make sure they listen to our voices and the voices of people like Vint Cerf, a father of the Internet and Google's "Chief Internet Evangelist," who recently wrote this to Congress in support of preserving Network Neutrality:

My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity...Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators should not dictate what people can do online.[4]

The essence of the Internet is at risk--can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/

Please forward to 3 others who care about this issue. Thanks for all you do.

--Eli Pariser, Adam Green, Noah T. Winer, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action team
Thursday, April 20th, 2006

P.S. If Congress abandons Network Neutrality, who will be affected?

• Advocacy groups like MoveOn--Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
• Nonprofits--A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
• Google users--Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
• Innovators with the "next big idea"--Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
• Ipod listeners--A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
• Online purchasers--Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices--distorting your choice as a consumer.
• Small businesses and tele-commuters--When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
• Parents and retirees--Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
• Bloggers--Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips--silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.

To sign the petition to Congress supporting "network neutrality," click here:
http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/

P.P.S. This excerpt from the New Yorker really sums up this issue well.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national telephone network spread across the United States, A.T. & T. adopted a policy of "tiered access" for businesses. Companies that paid an extra fee got better service: their customers' calls went through immediately, were rarely disconnected, and sounded crystal-clear. Those who didn't pony up had a harder time making calls out, and people calling them sometimes got an "all circuits busy" response. Over time, customers gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and away from the ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect, A.T. & T.'s policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker.

If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while "tiered access" never influenced the spread of the telephone network, it is becoming a major issue in the evolution of the Internet.

Until recently, companies that provided Internet access followed a de-facto commoncarriage rule, usually called "network neutrality," which meant that all Web sites got equal treatment. Network neutrality was considered so fundamental to the success of the Net that Michael Powell, when he was chairman of the F.C.C., described it as one of the basic rules of "Internet freedom." In the past few months, though, companies like A.T. & T. and BellSouth have been trying to scuttle it. In the future, Web sites that pay extra to providers could receive what BellSouth recently called "special treatment," and those that don't could end up in the slow lane. One day, BellSouth customers may find that, say, NBC.com loads a lot faster than YouTube.com, and that the sites BellSouth favors just seem to run more smoothly. Tiered access will turn the providers into Internet gatekeepers.[4]

Sources:

1. "Telecommunication Policy Proposed by Congress Must Recognize Internet Neutrality," Letter to Senate leaders, March 23, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1653

2. "AOL Blocks Critics' E-Mails," Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1649

3. "B.C. Civil Liberties Association Denounces Blocking of Website by Telus," British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Statement, July 27, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1650

4. "At SBC, It's All About 'Scale and Scope," BusinessWeek, November 7, 2002
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1648

5. "Net Losses," New Yorker, March 20, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1646

6. "Don't undercut Internet access," San Francisco Chronicle editorial, April 17, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1645

A Patient in the Dr.'s Office I Work In

FL Sheriff's Deputy Shoots And Kills Mentally Ill Woman

March 28, 2006 12:40 p.m. EST

Hector Duarte Jr. - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Boca Raton, FL (AHN) – A sheriff’s deputy remains on administrative leave Tuesday after authorities say he fatally shot a mentally ill woman who lunged at him with a knife.

Monday morning, Richard Furtado, husband of Marilou Forrest, phoned the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office looking for help on getting his wife, who he says was a paranoid schizophrenic, to follow doctor’s orders that she be committed to a mental facility.

Sheriff’s spokesman, Paul Miller, says when cops entered the couple’s home, Forrest lunged at them with a knife. When a Taser proved ineffective, a deputy shot her. A short time later, the 56-year-old died at Delray Medical Center.

The names of the deputies have not been released. They are on administrative leave until the investigation continues.

This is the ninth fatal shooting involving a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy since 1995.

Best comment on my Myspace account....EVER!

" telling people I read the entire Transmetropolitan Series is a great way to pick up guys.....thanks for that" --PunkyJewster on Myspace.com

'South Park' Rules....

My favorite part is highlighted in BOLD.....This show has been KICK-ASS this season and deserves every award they can get their hands on. God Bless Matt and Trey.

'South Park' Creators Skewer Own Network

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer Thu Apr 13, 6:14 PM ET

NEW YORK - Banned by Comedy Central from showing an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the creators of "South Park" skewered their own network for hypocrisy in the cartoon's most recent episode.

The comedy — in an episode aired during Holy Week for Christians — instead featured an image of Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American Flag.

In an elaborately constructed two-part episode of their Peabody Award-winning cartoon, "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker intended to comment on the controversy created by a Danish newspaper's publishing of caricatures of Muhammad. Muslims consider any physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous.

When the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers worldwide in January and February, it sparked a wave of protests primarily in Islamic countries.

Parker and Stone were angered when told by Comedy Central several weeks ago that they could not run an image of Muhammad, according to a person close to the show who didn't want to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity.

The network's decision was made over concerns for public safety, the person said.

Comedy Central said in a statement issued Thursday: "In light of recent world events, we feel we made the right decision." Its executives would not comment further.

As is often the case with Parker and Stone, they built "South Park" around the incident. In Wednesday's episode, the character Kyle is shown trying to persuade a Fox network executive to air an uncensored "Family Guy" even though it had an image of Muhammad.

"Either it's all OK, or none of it is," Kyle said. "Do the right thing."

The executive decides to strike a blow for free speech and agrees to show it. But at the point where Muhammad is to be seen, the screen is filled with the message: "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Muhammad on their network."

It is followed shortly by the images of Christ, Bush and the flag.

A frequent "South Park" critic, William Donohue of the anti-defamation group Catholic League, called on Parker and Stone to resign out of principle for being censored.

"The ultimate hypocrite is not Comedy Central — that's their decision not to show the image of Muhammad or not — it's Parker and Stone," he said. "Like little whores, they'll sit there and grab the bucks. They'll sit there and they'll whine and they'll take their shot at Jesus. That's their stock in trade."

Parker and Stone did not immediately respond to a request through a spokesman for comment.

It's the second run-in over religion in a few months for the satirists. Comedy Central pulled a March rerun of a "South Park" episode that mocked Scientologists.

Isaac Hayes, a Scientologist who voiced the Chef character on the show, resigned in protest over the episode.

"South Park" again got the last word last month with an episode where Chef was seemingly killed and mourned as a jolly guy whose brains were scrambled by the "Super Adventure Club," which turns its members into pedophiles.

Only last week, "South Park" won broadcasting's prestigious Peabody. Awards director Horace Newcomb said at the time that by its offensiveness, the show "reminds us of the need for being tolerant.

PASSedOVER

Wednesday night was the first night of Passover. For those NOT in the know this is the holiday the Jews celebrate that represents the struggle "our people" suffered through under the pharaoh's rule in Egypt before Moses came and led us all out of Egypt. Essentially this is the holiday that you can learn the most about from watching the film, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
So on Passover we Jews sit around the dinner table at have what we call a Seder. This is supposed to take place the first two night of this 8-day holiday. The Seder is laced with customs and rules. We read passages from the Torah and sing songs and cannot eat any bread or anything not blessed as Kosher for Passover...
In my house Passover goes like this: my Grandfather reads the highlights from the Torah and the Passover blessing and history books my parents picked up at the local supermarket. We usually breeze through the ceremony, keeping it WAAAAY informal. Then we dig into the food and gorge ourselves on matzoh balls, matzoh crackers, chicken or turkey, greenbean casserole made with matzoh and gefilte fish (if you've never had a piece of gefilte fish allow me to describe it to you: it is a ground de-boned fish recipe using a variety of kosher fish meat that is then made into fish balls and coated in a thin clear slime... Yes, I said slime). What follows is four to five days of painful constipation and then a glorious expelling of all things matzoh...It's not my favorite holiday.
This year was my girlfriend and her two-year-olds first Passover. They aren't Jewish and have never had the pleasure. Maybe I'll have my girlfriend write up her view of this year's Passover Seder and I'll post it here in the next couple of days.
If anyone is actually reading this and would like to POST their Passover (or Easter) stories or thoughts or gripes....Please feel free to do so in the comments section below.

Nanotech is the bomb....

'Nanopatches' to replace needles from PhysOrg.com

People who fear needles may one day have no need to fear the doctor, with the help of a funding injection for The University of Queensland's Professor Mark Kendall.
[...]

How F*cked Up Is This?

Student Expelled After Revealing He's Gay On MySpace 04.10.2006 2:04 PM EDT Jason Johnson is asked to leave Baptist college for 'sexual behavior not consistent with Christian principles.'

Photo: MySpace.com

The headlines have come fast and furious in recent months about kids being busted for everything from threatening teachers to plotting to burn down churches on their MySpace and Facebook pages. But at a small Christian liberal arts university in Williamsburg, Kentucky, last week, 20-year-old Jason Johnson was expelled not for a threat, but for admitting he is gay.

University of the Cumberlands spokesperson Larry Cockrum said he wasn't allowed to discuss matters pertaining to students or faculty, but the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper confirmed that the expulsion happened recently.

Cockrum said the 117-year-old school has a policy that allows administrators to expel a student who "promotes sexual behavior not consistent with Christian principles."

Johnson isn't the first gay student to face such a fate. In January, Michael Guinn, a student at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, was asked to leave the 87-year-old university when administrators at the Christian liberal arts school became concerned about some of the things he posted on his Xanga journal.

Guinn, 22, whose parents both work at the small school, was dismissed after being told he violated campus lifestyle guidelines, according to Andrea Phillips, the school's director of communications.

Those guidelines ban smoking, drinking, gambling and having sex outside of marriage.

"He was dismissed, which is different than being expelled," Phillips said. "He was asked to leave campus, but he is eligible to return if he chooses. We were aware of his orientation when he came to JBU and didn't learn about it from a Web site, but we did find some things on the site that were of some concern." Phillips would not specify what those things are, but she said the postings were a factor in his dismissal.

— Gil Kaufman

We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes....

I stole the title of today's blog from a movie. I wish I had thought it up myself but alas....

Couple of things to talk about today...

1. My girlfriend's exhusband is an asshole. Seriously. This guy is unbelievable. Get this: He marries the girl, they have a kid. He continues to party and live a lifestyle that my girlfriend (now mother to a baby) is uncomfortable with. They seperate. At first he sees the kid all the time but gradually his visits lessen until he's not around at all. Some time passes. Now the kid is two and the exhusband is trying to make a reappearance in her life, which is great except for the fact that he's tottally inconsistant with his visits and is confusing the hell out of the kid by crammy all this, "I'm your Daddy" shit down her throat. She thinks I'M her Daddy and just cannot understand who this new guy is who she sees once a week and calls himself "Daddy".
To make matters worse my girlfriends mother (the FUTURE Mother-In-Law) seems to have sided with the exhusband more than her own daughter (my girlfriend) and only further confuses the kid. It's all very convuluted and annoying and I'm sure makes NO SENSE in this rushed blog post, but it was something I needed to get off my chest in print...it's not like anyone is reading this anyway. I'll explain everything in more detail sometime soon...

2. Bah. I have no time for number 2 because things are getting busy at work and I've got to go. Sorry. More later.

--Odium.

It's Been A While...

Boy. It sure has been a while since I've been here. Lately I've been reading a lot of blogs which made me think about this account. I've always been fond of the title of this blog and it would be a shame to lose it.

I'm not really sure what type of content to put here. With all these new-fangled WEB 2.0 sites I've got a place to store my research, news articles and random ideas. It seems silly become a virtual pack-rat, endlessly cluttering the internet with my junk.

I think I'll just keep a basic journal of my thoughts here. Maybe some struggles or frustrations in my work or personal life. I'm of the mind that nobody really reads these things so it's hard for me to put tons of effort into something that's mostly for my own amusement.

I guess for the sake of documentation I'll talk a little about where I'm at now in my professional and personal life. I've got a pretty serious girlfriend and she's got an incredibly cute two year old daughter. I've sort of acquired an instant family in the past five months and it's been simultaneously amazing and terrifying. I'm learning as a go with this parenting stuff and overall it's been an enjoyable process.

Professionally I feel like I'm walking uphill with a twenty pound weight on my back. I write all the time. I'm constantly coming up with new ideas and filing them away for later use. I've recently limited myself to working on a handful of projects, thus increasing my attention to detail on each. Recently I entered a round of TV Pilot competitions with less than thrilling results...not that I've let it bother or discourage me. If anything it's been motivational to me because I can FEEL my self getting closer to my ultimate goal.

Just did an overhaul on the Vicious Circle website. I'm happy with the new look and anxious to get some more content up there. The VCP message board is alive and kicking. We saw a nice influx of new members after Megacon and even more after San Diego Con this summer past. Over at the VCP online store things aren't selling as much as I'd like. I'm working on some ideas to increase traffic in there....including an exclusive online comic available ONLY at the VCP store. The MYSPACE.COM account might be helpful for promotion something like that.

That's all for now.