Free Software Foundation

Shittles. This is why nobody takes the FSF seriously: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/5-reasons-to-avoid-iphone-3g

▪ iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones.

No tax needs to be paid (apps can be free, which means Apple pays the bandwidth and gets nothing); the App Store shows Apple's commitment to only allowing quality products, instead of crappy OSS.

▪ iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.

The iPhone isn't a group, person, company et cetera. STFU fool.

▪ iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.

All phones have GPS, which can be turned off. However, geeks like you should be well aware of the fact that triangulation can virtually always be used to track you. The iPhone adds nothing new but for a few applications that allow YOU, the USER, the freedom to use this information. Only tin-hat nutters would be concerned about providing Google Maps with your current location--how else could one use a mapping service?

▪ iPhone won't play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.

Because they're crap. Huge files, piss-poor quality, miniscule user base, (consisting of about 100 nerds) and non-existent documentation allowed Apple to completely ignore these crap codecs. Oh, and MP3 is free…

▪ iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don't spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software -- like the FreeRunner.

Which is so crappy that, despite the fact that I read nearly 4000 news articles per month, I have never heard of this piece of shit. Also, note the bit above where I said that any phone could be located by triangulation. Also, GPS exists on that phone. How do you think phone companies figure out if you're long distance or not?

I freaking LOVE Windows!

Facebook Killing

A woman was beaten up and shot dead by her father for talking online with a man she met on the website Facebook.
The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.

It said the man shot his daugther after discovering she had been chatting online to a young man she had met on Facebook.
...
Internet engineers said that young Saudis were using Facebook to flirt and make "web-cam calls".

From Dailymail.co.uk

My spare time

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Fitna

First they came…

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Martin Niemöller

Earth Hour

In response to this coming promise of darkness, Western Standard reader Richard Guenther sent this submission about Earth Hour:

Earth Hour

Not long ago Prime Minister Harper was in Estevan, Saskatchewan touring the Boundary Dam Power Plant. This is the facility that will be the recipient of Federal funding to refurbish a 100 MW unit to sequester carbon dioxide. The cost of doing this will be 1.4 billion dollars. The finished unit will be reduced in useable output to 60 MW. Presumably the other 40 MW will be used to extract the carbon dioxide.

This raises some troubling questions. We still need all 100 MW, not just the 60 MW that will be left. If this formula holds in the construction of new power plants and all the information I have says it will, this means for every 100 units of electricity we need in the future, we will need to build 166 units of production. This means an increase of capital costs of 66%. It will also mean that our fuel consumption (and by extrapolation, our operating and maintenance costs) will increase by 66% too.

These huge increases in electricity costs will have a very negative impact on our standard of living. These elevated costs will mean less wealth for your retirement, your healthcare, your children’s education, your vacation. It means you will have to drive a smaller, less safe car in the future or no car at all. It means less research for newer and better drugs in the future. It will reduce the ability of those at the bottom end of our society to afford even the basics. Less money will be available for charitable organizations including environmental causes. Less money will be available for highways. Less money for airports. Even less for big screen TVs.

At the same time the environmentalists want us to shut off our lights for one hour tomorrow night (March 29th) to demonstrate our dedication to saving the planet. All to placate the fears of people who have nightmares over cow flatulence and hot air. Remember, CO2 is not much more than plant food.

I think their idea of shutting off the lights is very indicative of their thinking. This irrational thinking with its huge costs will put us into a dark age, both literally and figuratively.

I refuse to be a part of it. Rather than subscribing to the “we must all live in caves” theory, I prefer to celebrate our modernity. I want to live in the 21st century, not the 9th. So tomorrow night at 8pm I will turn on all my lights, computers and TVs to show my solidarity with the future of mankind, not to the prophets of doom and naysayers amongst us.

via Western Standard: The Shotgun Blog

I'm gonna go out and turn on every light I have access to!

And has anyone thought through what may happen when everyone turns their lights back on at 2100? Can you say blackout?

Fitna

Watch it all; it's worth it. If you don't like it, feel free to speak out against it.



via Flaggman's Canada or Western Standard: Shotgun Blog

AppleCare

My (second) MagSafe Power Adapter started acting up a month ago. It wouldn't consistently display the correct colour (green when not charging; orange when charging) and would sometimes need to be jiggled to make it work.

So I called AppleCare. Within a minute, I was talking to a real person who shipped me a replacement. I got it today--less than 24 hours later.

Hopefully, they don't charge my credit card, but so far it's another great Apple experience

RAF Personnel Advised Not to Leave Base In Uniform

This is just shocking. Mark Steyn is right--Britain is, at its core, incapable of going anywhere but downhill from here.

Gordon Brown has condemned reports that RAF personnel at a Cambridgeshire base were advised not to wear uniform in public for fear of verbal abuse.
He said armed forces members should be "encouraged to wear their uniform in public and have the respect and gratitude of the British people".
The decision not to wear uniform was taken by the station commander at RAF Wittering near Peterborough.

Source: Dhimmi Watch via Google Reader